U.S. Water News Online
WASHINGTON -- Texas Agriculture Commissioner Susan Combs was recently meeting with White House staffers and other U.S. officials, hoping they'll push Mexico to meet a looming deadline for repaying a water debt to the United States.
``We plan to give them information they may not have and see what our chances are of getting some significant releases of water,'' said Combs, who said she has new data from the University of Texas Center for Space Research.
It's Combs' second trip to Washington on behalf of Texas farmers, who say they have suffered crop losses because of the water debt.
Oct. 2 is the deadline for Mexico to pay back about 1.5 million acre-feet of water.
A 1944 treaty between the two countries obliges Mexico to transfer 350,000 acre-feet of water each year to the United States. But Mexico has fallen behind, blaming drought.
The treaty allows for a five-year grace period. The current five-year cycle ends for Mexico with the upcoming deadline.
The United States and Mexico reached an agreement in late June to resolve the dispute. The deal includes a stipulation that the two countries will invest jointly in water conversation measures.
It also called for the immediate release of 90,000 acre-feet of water from the Falcon Reservoir, which is along the border west of San Antonio.
At the end of June, Mexico turned over to the United States 90,000 acre-feet of water stored in Falcon Reservoir, which jointly stores U.S. and Mexico water, said Sally Spener, International Boundary and Water Commission spokeswoman.
Combs was scheduled to meet with Ruben Barrales, director of the White House Office for Intergovernmental Affairs, and officials from the National Security Council, State Department and the International Boundary and Water Commission.
Combs said Mexico has the water it needs to pay its debt.
``I believe there's already sufficient water stored in Chihuahua,'' she said.
The United States and Mexico are developing a water payment plan with Mexico, Spener said. She said most people who have looked at Mexico's water storage believe it is unrealistic to expect Mexico to deliver the 1.5 million acre feet at the beginning of next month.
Spener said the United States is working to have a plan in place as soon as possible for Mexico to repay its debt.
Earlier in September, Mexico President Vicente Fox announced he would invest $2.2 billion annually in new infrastructure and other measures to help preserve shrinking water supplies -- especially in the border region.
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