US Holds Back Water From Mexico to Tackle Debt, Official Claims

MERCEDES, Texas ( Border Report — To convey a message, the U.S. is withholding water payments to Mexico, according to the U.S. International Boundary and Water Commissioner as reported by Border Report.

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"The initial step taken by the State Department was the refusal to deliver water to Mexico in the Tijuana region," said U.S. IBWC Commissioner Maria-Elena Giner during her visit to South Texas last week as reported by Border Report.

"We aimed to convey to them that our degree of collaboration is decreasing due to the inadequate performance regarding water deliveries. This represents an initial measure," Giner stated.

According to an international agreement from 1944, Mexico is obligated to deliver 1.75 million acre-feet of water to the United States through the Rio Grande every five years. This current cycle concludes in October, but up until now, Mexico has only provided fewer than 500,000 acre-feet of water—approximately one-fourth of their debt. according to IBWC data .

The United States, likewise, under the treaty must send 1.5 million acre-feet of water from the Colorado River to Mexico.

However, Giner states that recent requests for deliveries to Tijuana, Mexico, which lies just south of San Diego, have not been met. She also warns that further restrictions on water supply and other resources might be implemented if Mexico does not deliver the required amount of water to the U.S.

Giner told Border Report that the State Department is assessing various strategies to utilize Mexico’s resources.

This severe measure taken by the Trump administration marks one of the few instances in modern times where the United States has cut off water supplies. This move follows a visit to the Rio Grande Valley on March 19th by Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins alongside U.S. Senator Ted Cruz from Texas and Representative Monica De La Cruz also from Texas.

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As the area grappled with months of severe drought, their appearances coincided with farmers' fields becoming parched and their harvests failing due to restricted access to water from the diminishing Rio Grande.

The The state's lone sugar mill in Santa Rosa closed down last year. and Hidalgo County announced a state of water emergency.

Giner stated that "the visit from Rollins was quite beneficial as it helped raise awareness about this matter. The more aligned we are with the federal agencies, the smoother everything will be."

A few days ago, the Rio Grande Valley received several dozen inches of rainfall, leading to extensive floods. However, these rains arrived too far to the east to be captured by the area’s two dams, as mentioned by Giner.

The Falcon Dam, located in western Starr County, saw an increase due to rainfall amounting to 2 inches, contributing approximately 11,000 acre-feet. In Mexico, around 16,000 acre-feet were added to their reservoirs as a result of this precipitation.

On Monday, Falcon Dam stood at 13% of its total capacity, while the Amistad Reservoir close to Del Rio was at 21%. according to the IBWC .

Giner traveled to South Texas to visit the area inundated by floods. and told a meeting of local leaders and irrigation and drainage officials that despite some recent relief of rain, that Mexico will still be pressured to pay the water debt it owes the United States.

"The State Department is closely monitoring water deliveries. They've requested Mexico to furnish them with monthly delivery timetables along with a strategy to tackle any shortages. Additionally, they're exploring potential actions they can undertake," Giner informed the audience.

Rather than supplying water to Tijuana, Giner states that the United States has consented to deliver approximately 2,000 acre-feet to Mexicali "to enable them to carry out some maintenance work on their side of the aqueduct," she explained.

Sandra Sanchez can be contacted via SSanchez@BorderReport.com.

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