The Mexican government reaches an agreement with the U.S. to pay for water
President López Obrador thanked the U.S. government for its understanding of the difficulties he has had in complying with the 1944 Water Treaty.
Mexico's government reached an agreement with the United States to pay it for the water it is entitled to as part of the 1944 Treaty, for which it will use the liquid that was reserved for human consumption. President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador thanked the administration of Donald Trump for "their understanding and solidarity" for the difficulty Mexico has had in paying the 2,155 million cubic liters after the opposition of farmers and the government of Chihuahua.
"If we need water for human consumption they (the United States) are going to provide it and if we have a severe drought situation, they are also going to help us so my thanks to the U.S. government in this matter," said López Obrador.
Since 1944, Mexico has had to deliver 431 million cubic liters of water to the United States each year by sharing the Rio Bravo, while its northern neighbor has had to deliver 1.85 billion cubic liters to Mexico by way of the Colorado River. Water payments must be made every five years. This October 24th is the deadline for this payment.
According to Blanca Jiménez, general director of the National Water Commission (Conagua), Mexico had to pay with liquid from Coahuila, Nuevo León, Tamaulipas, and Chihuahua, however, in the face of opposition from the Chihuahua government, it had to resort to extracting water from international dams, in addition to which six taxpayers had to increase the percentage of liquid they were entitled to.
He reported that despite the extraction of international waters, water is guaranteed for the border cities, since it will be obtained from El Granero (Chihuahua), La Amistad and Falcón (international) dams, El Cuchillo (Nuevo León), Marte R. Gómez (Tamaulipas) dams, and from rainfall.
For his part, Roberto Velasco Alvarez, director-general for North America of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (SRE), explained that the 34th cycle (corresponding to the previous six years) ended with a deficit of 324 million cubic liters, which will also be paid for by taking water from international dams.
He informed that this Thursday, October 21, Act 325 was signed, through which it is established that in addition to the payment that corresponds to cycle 35 and deficit 34, in case of lack of water, the United States would cooperate with Mexico by allowing it to use water that corresponds to it.
"It will be necessary to continue with the extraction of water from Luis L. León (El Granero) not for the payment of the treaty, but for human consumption to replenish the international dams, which Conagua estimates will be happening until November 19," he explained.
