INTERNATIONAL

California, Mexico Water Projects to Get NADBank Funds: Water treatment plants proposed by the cities of Brawley and Ensenada, Mexico, were recommended as the first two recipients of funds from the North American Development Bank, or NADBank, an institution set up by the North American Free Trade Agreement to finance water, sewage and environmental projects on both sides of the 2,000-mile U.S.-Mexico border. The recommendations were handed down at a meeting of the Border Environmental Cooperation Commission, the NADBank’s binational advisory committee. Final approval by the NADBank board is expected within 90 days. Despite delays and setbacks caused by the Mexican peso crisis, NADBank loans of $17.2 million to the Brawley project and $14 million to Ensenada would be signs that border projects will proceed on some scale, said Rudy Fernandez, director of the state’s California-Mexico Affairs office in San Diego.