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OJ1GJ9 2002] THE lAST GREEN lAGOON 965 Mexico as a practical, long-term source of Delta water.367 For the political and practical reasons that we have discussed earlier, the Institute proposal also rejected the Upper Basin, California, and Nevada as potential sources.368 Instead, the Institute targeted southern Arizona - in particular, the Wellton-Mohawk Irrigation and Drainage District near Yuma, Arizona.369 Many efforts to find water for the Delta have focused on water used by farmers in the Wellton-Mohawk Irrigation and Drainage District (WMIDD) because (1) the district controls a lot of water (440,000 acre feet), (2) farmers pay only minimal prices for water (as low as $3 an acre foot), and (3) they grow relatively low economic value crops.370 The Institute also approached the Colorado River Indian Tribes in hopes of forging a cooperative arrangement between them and the Cucupah people in the Delta. 371 The Institute proposal reasoned that the cost of buyouts of private water rights in the U.S. would be less than the gains that would result from the dilution and/or elimination of additional salt contamination from the Colorado River.372 In fact, buyouts of water. from Wellton- Mohawk would reduce373 the salt contributions of one of the largest contributors to river salinity.374 Combined with the economic benefits of the restoration of the Delta fishery and local Delta communities, the Institute argued that their proposal would result in net economic benefits to both countries.375 The Institute recognized that an. international agreement would be necessary to implement such a program, due to the extensive restrictions on water transfers in the Law of the River, 367.. See CULP, supra note 123, at 41. 368. See id at 40-41. 369. See id. at 41-44. 370. See Pitt et aI., supra note 23. 37.1. Cornelius & Propst, supra note 363. 37.2. See CULP. supra note 123, at 42-44. 37.3. As discussed in Section III.C, supra, the dilution effects of retaining water in the river can result in substantial economic savings. 37.4. From a salinity perspective, Wellton-Mohawk is one of the most ill-conceived irrigation projects ever developed. Philip Frac1kiri has callea it "a tribute to the persistence of the Reclamation Ethos through one disaster after another." FRADKIN, supra note 9, at 302. Due to the Project's extremely poor drainage and the presence of a super-saline aquifer. close to the surface. the Project farmlands rapidly became saturated with ponded saltwater. Congressional bailouts. have led to the installation of an extraordinarily costly tile drain system throughout the Project, as well as groundwater pumps that remove saltwater from the saline aquifer to keep the water table below the root zones of plants. Unfortunately, much of this high-salinity water - either through seepage or return flows - makes its way into the Colorado River. See id. 375. See Culp, supra note 123, at 44.