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001987 17~t~- ' Restoration of the Mexican Delta 1 Methods for Obtaining Water Supplf By: Michael J. Clinton, PE3 INTRODUCTION The Delta of the Colorado River in Northwest Mexico is a fabled place. The stories run, the gauntlet from lost riverboat captains to vicious tidal bores to blue lagoons to lost treasure and to a recovering ecosystem. As with all fables, Delta stories contain both hyperbole and pathos. The Colorado River Delta today is radically different from the way it existed a century ago. Today, most of the water that once sustained the Delta's natural ecology has been devoted to sustaining the human ecology of cities, farms and businesses in the southwestern United States and in the State of Baja, Mexico. This society, including the City of San Diego where this conference is convened, is a desert society -- living in an oasis watered by the Colorado River. This paper focuses upon the legal fabric that would govern efforts to secure water supplies for the Delta from within the United States and from within Mexico. THE GULF OF CALIFORNIA AND THE DELTA Most early residents of the Lower Colorado River Basin came by boat, through the Gulf of California and into what ytias then a maze of shifting river meanders and tall cottonwood forests. Since the tORpgraphy of the Delta area is so flat, river pilots would place a lookout on a high mast~of the boat to help see that day's course of the ever-changing river. A small mountain located 10 miles west' of Yuma Arizona became known as Pilot Knob because it was the onlYt landmark that could be seen above the Delta forests. Until the early part of- the 20 h Century, riverboats were the primary method of transportation and commerce for the Lower Colorado RiVer Basin. 1 Presented at the CLE INTERNATIONAL Law of the River Conference, June 7-8, 2001, San Diego, California. 2 This presentation uses information from a report entitled Options for "Immediate Options for Augmenting Water Flows to the Colorado River Delta in Mexico, May 2001", that is currently in press and was prepared for the David and Lucile Packard Foundation. Mr. Clinton was a major contributor to that report. The information from that report is used with the permission of the David and Lucile Packard Foundation. 3 Michael J. Clinton is President of Michael Clinton Engineering, Las Vegas, Nevada. Mr. Clinton is a registered professional engineer specializing in the management of natural resources including water, land and energy.