A B S T R AC T This paper describes how ten municipalities within the Ayuquila river basin in Mexico formed a collaborative association to reduce river pollution and, more generally, to work together to improve living conditions and promote more sustainable management of natural resources within and across their administrative boundaries. It describes the improvements achieved and discusses the institutional arrangements for this association, including the involvement of local universities and state-and federal-level institutions, and provision for citizen participation. It also discusses the measures taken to ensure the association's continued effectiveness, especially ensuring support from municipal politicians (who only have three-year terms of office), strengthening municipal-level technical capacity and what is needed to ensure the association's effectiveness in the future.

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