Posted on 06/30/2002 7:41:30 PM PDT by Pokey78
The potentially explosive political row about Mexico's huge water debt to the United States has been at least temporarily settled by an agreement which should provide some relief to drought-stricken Texan farmers.
Under a 1944 agreement Mexico must let a certain amount of water flow down the Rio Bravo into Texas every year, and the US must divert five times as much into Mexico from the Colorado river.
The water is measured in acre-feet: the amount needed to cover an acre of land to the depth of a foot, equal to about 1.23m litres.
Mexico has not met its obligation in full since 1993, and now owes 1.5m acre-feet - four years' worth of water.
Under the agreement signed on Saturday Mexico must discharge 6% of the debt immediately, but this is accompanied by joint plans for a $400m (£260m) investment aimed at reducing wastage from the Rio Bravo before the river reaches Texas, where it becomes the Rio Grande.
It is the first time the two countries have worked together on water conservation to ameliorate the chronic shortages along the eastern reaches of their common border which, after 10 years of drought, is reaching crisis proportions.
"These projects will allow our country to achieve 53% efficiency in the use of water in the region, which is a significant advance of the current level of 33%," a Mexican government statement said.
"This will mean a reliable supply of water in the frontier, and in time allow compliance with the 1944 treaty.
The issue took centre stage this spring when Texas farmers took full advantage of their political muscle in Washington to complain about another year of drought which threatened to blight their melon fields and citrus groves.
Their complaints were reinforced by satellite images which suggested that the situation over the border in the Mexican state of Chihuahua was not as bad as the authorities there claimed, indicating that they were holding back water.
A phone call from President George Bush finally forced President Vicente Fox to publicly promise in mid-May that Mexico would pay the debt. This brought him into direct conflict with Chihuahua authorities, which continue to insist that they cannot be expected to release water they simply do not have.
Although Mr Fox delayed the announcement of his promised plan of action, he had little choice but to bow to the US pressure, which has been kept up by farmers blocking border crossings.
The deal, and the relative efficiency with which it was negotiated, is a welcome success for Mr. Fox as he struggles to prove that he can resolve the long-festering problems inherited from the 71-year regime of the Institutional Revolutionary Party.
His election two years ago tomorrow was hailed as a political watershed but the changes and more businesslike government he promised have largely failed to materialise, and analysts are speaking of a lame-duck administration.
The reporter for The Guardian has confused some terms.
1. The Rio Grande and Rio Bravo are the same river. The name changes depending on whether you're in the U.S. or Mexico, respectively.
2. However, the river where they will attempt to reduce wastage is the Rio Conchos, which flows north out of Chihuahua and into the Rio Grande at Presidio, Texas.
There is zero flow in the Rio Grande from just below El Paso to Presidio -- the channel is full of sand and salt cedar. Thus, the Rio Conchos provides the entire volume of the Rio Grande as it flows through the Big Bend.
And, while Mexico has agreed to meet their water debt on the Rio Conchos, I really don't see how they can do it...
Bend over America!
With oil?
Possibly. But more oil won't do much for the grapefruit trees and onion fields in the Rio Grande Valley...
Updated Jun 30, 2002 -- 05:34:29 2002 CST
Lucio: Agreement favors Mexico
By STEVE TAYLOR
Valley Morning Star
AUSTIN - South Texas farmers and lawmakers reacted angrily to a water deal signed Saturday by U.S. and Mexican officials that will send an immediate 90,000 acre-feet of water down the Rio Grande.
The agreement also commits the U.S. and Mexico to invest $210 million over the next four years on irrigation infrastructure and water conservation measures, the first time the two countries have collaborated jointly on water projects.
"It looks like everything favors Mexico," said state Sen. Eddie Lucio, D-Brownsville. "They have secured all these benefits through holding back our water, sometimes including illegal diversions. And to think that water has been used to grow agricultural products to compete against us in NAFTA. It leaves a sour taste in the mouth."
Gordon Hill, general manager of Bayview Irrigation District, was equally forthright.
"We've been blackmailed, pure and simple," Hill said. "The State Department has not told us a damn thing today about future water repayment schedules. The agreement mentions the word 'contingency,' which implies Mexico has tagged something on to the 90,000 acre-feet. Without more water, we are dead next year."
Under a 1944 water treaty, Mexico has to release 350,000 acre-feet of water to the United States each year from the Rio Conchos Basin. The debt has been accruing over the past decade, and according to the International Boundary and Water Commission, Mexico will owe about 1.7 million acre-feet of water by the end of September, the deadline for the current five-year cycle.
Sally Spener, IBWC public affairs officer, said the full text of Saturday's agreement probably would not be released until the middle of next week. Instead, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher issued a two-page joint communiqué saying the two countries had agreed on four key points: They would work together to modernize hydrological infrastructure; endorse a binational financial package dedicated to water conservation measures; assign on a "contingency basis" 90,000 acre-feet of water; and reaffirm the commitment of both governments to reform the North American Development Bank and the Border Environmental Cooperation Commission.
"The agreement reached contributes to resolving the water problems along the border, taking into account immediate needs as well as concrete actions to be taken in the medium and long term," Boucher said in a statement.
"Both governments agree on the importance of this agreement to meet the immediate needs on our common border, as well as to stimulate projects that will produce a long-term solution to this sensitive topic," Mexico President Vicente Fox said in a statement.
Lisette Mondello, a spokeswoman for U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, said she understood that $80 million dollars in interest accrued from NADBank funds would go into a trust fund for both countries to use in grants for water conservation and canal projects.
"Sen. Hutchison is confident the investment money will be apportioned equally between the two countries. This is what she has been fighting for all along," said Mondello.
Mexico already is committed to spending a further $40 million this year on water projects in the four northern border states of Chihuahua, Nuevo Leon, Coahuila and Tamaulipas. The change in NADBank's rules is expected to net Mexico a further $25 million.
The full text of the agreement also is expected to commit the U.S. government to invest $5 million on border investment infrastructure now and ask Congress to approve $100 million in fiscal years 2004 and 2005, half of which would go to Mexico.
"I am sure we will get equal funding, but I don't give a fig about the money," said Hill. "What good is the infrastructure without any water? Are they going to pay our farmers not to grow?"
U.S. Rep. Solomon Ortiz, D-Corpus Christi, fumed that he had no idea what had been agreed because no one in Congress or from South Texas had been briefed at any point during the negotiations. He said recent history showed Mexico made announcements it did not keep and signed Minute Orders that were not followed.
"This entire journey had been enormously frustrating for us, and it is not over," Ortiz said. "The frustration is not only with Mexico's noncompliance on this matter, it is also with our own government, which turned a deaf ear to our pleas to force compliance."
Ortiz said he agreed with Valley farmers describing the 90,000 acre-feet as too little, too late.
"It's about 200,000 acre-feet less than our farmers and water users need right now. And with the effects of evaporation and hydrilla, much less than 90,000 acre-feet will reach the irrigation districts of the South Texas water users," Ortiz added.
According to Rio Grande Watermaster Carlos Rubinstein, 90,000 acre-feet of water represents a 3 percent increase in current stocks and would satisfy demand for about three weeks of peak irrigation. He also said 90,000 acre-feet would be enough water to cover the municipal needs of every South Texas city downstream from Del Rio for four and a half months.
Lucio said he was disappointed the agreement did not mention cleaning up the Rio Grande. He said he would file legislation next session committing the state to doing its part in dredging and stopping illegal dumping.
"This river is the only source of water we have. It's a dirty river that needs to be cleaned and free-flowing. What happens with this agreement now will decide the future of this region, whether we grow and prosper or decline."
And you and your "candidate" would be picking fruit in the sun.
You're looking your gift horse in the mouth again, Tancy Fancy. ;)
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