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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27

g1'iage was written in the treaty in Article 10 (from any
and all sources) and Article 11 (waters .of the said river,
whatever their origin) to cover this situation~

b. Credit for Waters of Any Kind

Notwithstanding the testimony set forth above concern-
ing the intent of the Mexican and American negotiators as
to the reason for the use of the phrase" from any and all
sources," and waters "whatever their origin," statements
at other places in the hearings appear to indicate that the
United States was to receive credit for any water which
actually flows across the boundary. Frank B. Clayton,
counsel for the American Section of the International
Boundary Commission and an authoritative witness, testi-
fied as follows:

Now, to get back to the words "from any 'and all
sources" and "whatever their origin," those words
were inserted by the American representatives in this
treaty to insure that the United States would get
credit for all kinds of water, whether it was greCll
water or clear water or any other kind of water,
whether drainage or fresh, that actually found its way
to Mexico, that might come into the main stream, in
the boundary portion, from Arizona, for instance, hnt
still the United States would be entitled to credit
for it."

42 Hearings, pt. 1, at 110. (Emphasis added.) Tho witness Clayton,
howevor, had just previously stated that ho was referring to return flow
and not to allY wator actually delivered to Mexico at the boundary:
What is the significau(\c of those w'Ords, "From any .and an sources,"
and "wherover these waters may arrive"?
The reprosentatives of the United States insisted upon those worda
in the treaty. They were objected to by Mexico, for the simple and
obvious reaS011 thu.t the United States wanted to secure credit for ull
water of aJty Idnd, wherever it might come from, that actually flowed
across tho boundary lillO, whether it was drainage water from projects
within the United States or whether it was used for sluicing upstream
and could not bo put to beneficial use below, or flood waters, or waste
wators of whatover kind.
Tho Chairman. Is that wlHlt you call the backflow'
Mr. Clayton. The return flow that gets back into the river.

Hearings, pt. 1, at 107-08.

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