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<br />001511 <br /> <br />2002] <br /> <br />THE lAST GREEN lAGOON <br /> <br />967 <br /> <br />water rights. For lands unsuitable for wetland habitat, the <br />purchased water rights could be severed from the land and then <br />routed through drainage systems to the Delta. 383 <br />The second MCE proposal suggested purchasing land and <br />water rights in the same manner as described above. Rather <br />than delivering this water directly to the Delta, however, it would <br />be deducted from the U.S. delivery obligation in the mainstem at <br />Morelos Dam.384 To compensate for the deduction, an identical <br />volume of increased amounts of. high salinity agricultural <br />wastewater would be diverted into the MODE canal at Yuma (the <br />bypass drain that delivers water to the Cienega de Santa <br />Clara).385 This water would then be delivered to the Delta.386 The <br />end result would decrease overall deliveries of water to Mexico <br />via the mainstem Colorado. The water delivered, however, would <br />have moderately reduced levels of salinity.387 Overall, Mexico <br />would receive the same amount as it is guaranteed under the <br />Mexico-U.S. Water Treaty - 1.5 maf - but high salinity water <br />that would otherwise contaminate their mainstem entitlement <br />would simply be isolated frorri the river north of the border, and <br />routed directly to the Delta.388 <br />MCE received a preliminary grant from the Packard <br />Foundation, and subsequently combined forces with the Sonoran <br />Institute to investigate which of the proposed short-term <br />alternatives for Delta restoration was most feasible. Their joint <br />efforts culminated in a report to the Packard Foundation in May <br />of 2001.389 <br />In the report, MCE's &st alternative is only partially revised. <br />The report identifies an area of marginal farmland to the west of <br />Mexicali where approximately 2,000 hectares of marginal <br /> <br />f <br /> <br />f <br /> <br />t'. <br />~':: <br />r <br /> <br />/.: <br /> <br />,: <br />f <br /> <br />p' <br /> <br />383. These transfers would use the existing system where possible; however. new <br />drainage construction might be necessary in some areas. Informal presentation by <br />Malissa McKeith and Michael Clinton at the. . .to the Sea of Cortes: Nature, Water, <br />Culture, and Livelilwod in the Lower Colorado River Basin and Delta conference in <br />Riverside, California (Sept. 29,. 2000) (one of the authors, Mr. Culp, was present at <br />this informal meeting). <br />384. See Clinton Proposal, supra note 378; at 6. <br />385. See id <br />386. Delivery at any point other than the Cienega would require the construction <br />of a new diversion canal to carry water from the MODE canal to the mainstem or to <br />existing drainage canals that empty into the mainstem. See id at 8. <br />387. Id. <br />388. Id at 6-7 <br />389. Michael Clinton Engineering et al., Immediate Options for Augmenting Water <br />Flows to the Colorado. River Delta in Mexico, Prepared for The David and Lucile <br />Packard Foundation. May 2001 [hereinafter "MCE report"], available at <br />http://www.sonoran.org/pdf/Colorado_river. pdf. <br /> <br />I <br /> <br /> <br />~ <br />