Mexico’s slow delivery of water to the United States under the terms of a 1944 treaty is prompting lawmakers to explore new enforcement options.
Under the treaty, Mexico is obligated to deliver an average of 350,000 acre-feet of water annually over a five-year cycle. Mexico has delayed the supply of this cycle’s water until the end of the cycle next year.
Texas farm groups warn of a disastrous season ahead for citrus and sugar as Mexican and U.S. officials try to resolve a dispute over a decades-old water treaty that supplies U.S. farmers with critical irrigation.
After nearly a year of uncertainty about whether Mexico would be able to fulfill its water debt to the United States, Gov. Greg Abbott announced Thursday that the two countries have reached an agreement to satisfy the debt by Friday, just one day before the treaty deadline to do so is set to expire.
Mexico is at risk of breaching a 75-year old water treaty with the US if it does not come up with a new strategy to deliver 457,800 acre-feet (565 million cubic meters – Mm3) of water to its northern neighbor by October 24.
That amount represents 350,000 acre-feet of water that the Latin American country is expected to deliver annually under the US-Mexico water treaty of 1944, in addition to making up for the delayed delivery of around 108,000 acre-feet that it has postponed during the 2015-20 cycle.
The Water News Network is San Diego County’s source for water news and information.
