Tensions are rising in a border dispute between the United States and Mexico. But this conflict is not about migration
Tensions are rising in a border dispute between the United States and Mexico. But this conflict is not about migration; it's about water.
Under an 80-year-old treaty, the United States and Mexico sharing waters from the Colorado River and the Rio Grande, respectively. But in the grip of severe drought and searing temperatures, Mexico has fallen far behind in deliveries, putting the country's ability to meet its obligations in serious doubt.
Some politicians say they cannot give what they do not have.It's a tough argumen to swallow for farmers in South Texas, also struggling with a dearth of rain. They say the lack of water from Mexico is propelling them into crisis, leaving the future of farming in the balance. Some Texas leaders have called on the Biden administration to withhold aid from Mexico until it makes good on the shortfall.
Both countries are staring down the prospek of another long, hot summer and many are pinning hopes on a storm to swell Mexico's drought-stricken rivers. Yet experts say the pray-for-rain approach is a risky, short-term strategy in the face of a knotty long-term masalah.
The conflict underscores the immense difficulties of navigating how to sharing shrinking water sumber in a hotter, drier world. Under a 1944 treaty, Mexico is required to send 1.75 million acre-feet of water to the US every five years from the Rio Grande, and the US to send 1.5 million acre-feet of water to Mexico from the Colorado River each year. One acre-foot is enough water to flood one acre of land a foot deep. It adds up to an enormous amount of water exchanged between the two countries: around 490 billion gallons from the US annually and 570 billion from Mexico each five year period.
Mexico is falling far behind in its obligations, said Maria Elena Giner, the US commissioner of the International Boundary and Water Commission, the bi-national bodi that oversees the treaty.
"We've only gotten about a year's worth of water and we're already well into our fourth year," she told CNN. The current cycle ends in October 2025.
