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<br />000370 <br /> <br />DRAFT-Not for distribution <br /> <br />60 Agreement approving Minute 242 of the International Boundary and Water Commission <br />setting forth a permanent and definitive solution to the international problem of the salinity of the <br />Colorado River. Exchange of Notes at Mexico, August 30, 1973; 24 UST 1968; TIAS 7708. <br />Minute 242 established salinity standard at a Morelos Dam at no more than 115 ppm greater than <br />at Imperial Dam, authorized the Wellton-Mohawk Bypass Drain, and limited groundwater <br />pumping within 5 miles of international boundary to 160,000 afy. (Recognized and implemented <br />by the Colorado River Basin Salinity Control Act, 88 Stat. 266, June 24, 1974.) <br /> <br />61 Minute 306 of the International Boundary and Water Commission; Conceptual framework for <br />United States-Mexico studies for future recommendations concerning the riparian and estuarine <br />ecology of the limitrophe section of the Colorado River and its associated delta. Signed at EI <br />Paso, Texas December 12,2000. <br /> <br />62 Mexican Water Treaty, Article lO(a). <br /> <br />63 Art. 11. In Minute 242 of the International Water and Boundary Commission, the United <br />States and Mexico agreed that 1,360,000 acre feet would be delivered at Morelos Dam and <br />140,000 acre feet would continue to be delivered on the land boundary at San Luis and the <br />limitrophe section of the Colorado River downstream from Morelos Dam. <br /> <br />64 Id., Article 1 O(b). A Treaty-surplus is distinguishable from a "surplus condition" which may <br />be declared by the Secretary of the Interior under Criteria for Coordinated Long-Range <br />Operation of Colorado River Reservoirs Pursuant to the Colorado River Project Act of <br />September 30, 1968 (Pub. L. 90-537), as amended by the "Interim Surplus Criteria" adopted by <br />the Secretary pursuant to Sections 601 and 602 of the Colorado River Basin Project Act of 1968, <br />Pub. L. 90-537 on January 16,2001. See, Record of Decision, Colorado River Interim Surplus <br />Criteria Final Environmental Impact Statement. (pES 00-52). Secretarial determinations of <br />"surplus conditions" within the domestic U.S. Annual Operating Plan are not declarations of <br />Treaty surpluses. <br /> <br />65 Id., Article 1 O(b). <br /> <br />66 See A. Dan Tarlock, "Safeguarding International River Ecosystems in Times of Scarcity," 3 <br />Univ. of Denver Water Review 231,233-4 (2000). <br /> <br />67 Stephen P. Mumme, "The Case for Adding an Ecology Minute to the 1944 United States- <br />Mexico Water Treaty," 15 Tulane Environmental Law Journal 239, 241 (Summer 2002): <br /> <br />The treaty incorporates the notion of equitable utilization and construes the <br />vital notion of beneficial use of water in terms of development concepts <br />dominant at the time. It is not at all about development. . . . <br /> <br />Mumme makes the argument that ecological uses are comprehended in the 1944 Treaty. In <br />setting forth the priorities "for the joint use of international waters" the Treaty lists as seventh . <br />and last "[a]ny other beneficial uses which may be determined by the Commission" (Art. 3, para. <br />1). Mumme states, supra, at 242: <br /> <br />29 <br />