WSP11122

• File Number: 8271.300
• Description: Colorado River Basin Salinity Control Program - General Information and Publications-Reports
• Basin: Colorado Mainstem
• Water Division: 5
• Date: 1/1/3000
• Title: OPINION - Colorado River Salinity Problem - Submitted to His Excellency - Honorable Antonio Carillo Flores - Ambassador of Mexico
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: Report/Study

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broad enough in themselves to allow credit to the United
States for the Wellton-Mohawk groundwaters, we think
the bare words of the treaty should not be considered
alone but instead should be considered in light of the
contemplation of the contracting parties in 1944.

From the testimony given during hearings' on the
treaty in the United States Senate in 1945 it appears that
the reason for insertion of the phrases "from any and
all sources" and waters "whatever their origin" was to
insure that the United States would be credited for return
flow waters. Considering the deflnition of "return flow"
in Article 1 (h) of the treaty, we think Wellton-Mohawk
groundwaters should not be considered as return flow.

If not return flow, we think it is clear that highly saline.
groundwaters which are extracted by wells from a sub-
terranean reservoir underlying the Wellton-Mohawk
region and which do not naturally drain into the Colo-
rado River are not "waters of the Colorado River," the
subject matter of the allotment in Article 10 of the
treaty.

In support of such a view are statements made dur-
ing hearings in the Senate indicating that under the
treaty the United States would deliver to Mexico water
which is only a little less desirable (by reason of its
use in irrigation after the last diversion in the United
States) than that diverted from the Colorado River by
the last users in the United States.

.

In view of the contemplation of the parties as appears
to us from testimony given during Senate hearings, we
think the highly saline Wellton-Mohawk groundwaters
are not chargeable to Mexico under the treaty if the

* We have not examined the proceedings in the Mexican
Senate leading to ratification of the 1944 treaty nor have we
been able to obtain access to diplomatic correspondence or ex-
changes of memoranda prior to conclusion of the treaty other
than such as have been made historical by the United States
Department of State in "Foreign Relations of the United States"
or during hearings in the Senate in 1945.

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