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<br />001615 <br /> <br />2002] <br /> <br />THE lAST GREEN lAGOON <br /> <br />971 <br /> <br />for the harsh environmental, social, 'and' economic impacts to <br />Mexico of its development policies on the Colorado.405 <br />In light of this history, there are serious issues of equity <br />associated with. requiring Mexico - or at least only Mexico - to <br />dedicate its' own, over-allocated Colorado water resources to deal <br />with the problems of the Delta, when the U.S. clearly bears some <br />responsibility for this growing enVironmental crisis. Of the 17.5 <br />maf . of Colorado River water that is' allocated by the Colorado <br />River Compact and the Mexico-U.S. Water Treaty, the U.S. <br />claims 16 maf - around 92 percent - in addition to the entire <br />annual flow of tributaries like the Virgin and the Gila Rivers. To <br />use only Mexico's apportionment to save what little is left of the <br />Delta heaps insult upon injury. Equity requires that the burden <br />of water needed for restoration be shared between the two <br />countries. <br />Practicality also dictates against relying entirely on Mexico <br />as the sole source of water for the Delta for the long term. <br />Mexico's water resources are already' stretched past their <br />limits.406 Groundwater supplieS will only last so long; and fast- <br />growing Tijuana and Mexicaii will reqUire increasingly large <br />amounts of Colorado River water as time goes on, even as <br />agricultural supplies dwindle.407 Mexican water may represent a <br />short-term solution, but in the long-term we must look to the <br />U.S. for a source of water, regardless of the political difficulties <br />associated with such a solution. <br /> <br />C. The Best Course for Saving the Delta <br /> <br />We believe that the most practical way to overcome those <br />difficulties can be found in the voluntary, purchase-and-transfer <br />based model that is envisioned in the original Sonoran Institute <br />proposal. Combined . with the thoughtful delivery strategies <br />outlined in the MCE/SI altematives, and supplemented with <br />short-term acquisitions of Mexican water, the purchase-and- <br />transfer based model represents a politically, economically, and <br />legally practicable means of acquiring water for the Delta. Unlike <br />the efforts to coerce change through litigation, a purchase-and- <br /> <br />405. See discussion of the U.S. and U.S. Department of Interior responses to the <br />Lower Colorado salinity problem, the Pacific Institute proposal, and proposals to <br />include the Delta region in the MSCP, supra Sections Ill.C and V.A. <br />406. See Hayes, supra note 53, at 808. <br />407. See id. at 805-08. Groundwater shortfalls are expected to worsen as a result <br />of MWD/IID water conservation measures planned under the Quantification <br />Agreement _ canal lining will cut massive amounts of seepage that currently leak <br />from the All-American Canal and replenish groundwater supplies in Mexico. See id <br />