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<br />001972 <br /> <br />MANAGEMENT OF COLORADO RIVER WATER IN MEXICO <br /> <br />Irrigation in the Mexicali Valley began in the 1880s, through the use of canals <br />constructed by the California Development Company. Those canals provided water <br />to both the Mexicali and Imperial Valleys with the Canallndependencia serving both <br />valleys. When the Canal Independencia (previously named the Alamo Canal) <br />headworks at the Colorado River west of Yuma failed in 1905, floodwaters destroyed <br />thousands of acres of Mexicali Valley farmland. ,After the headworks were repaired in <br />1907, the core irrigation system that exists today in the northern Mexicali Valley was <br />constructed and began operation. Because the Canal Independencia served <br />farmland in both Mexico and the United States, many disputes arose over the <br />methods of operating, maintaining and funding related activities. The unreliable flow <br />of the Colorado River and its huge sediment loads caused serious operational <br />difficulties. <br /> <br />By the late 1930s, about 50,000 hectares (125,000 acres) were being farmed <br />in Mexicali and San Luis Rfo Colorado Valleys using about 750,000 acre-feet of <br />water per year. Much of this water, particularly during low flow periods, was brackish <br />agricultural return flow from the farms in the US. With the completion of Hoover Dam . <br />in 1935, the Colorado River flow stabilized, and the All American Canal was <br />constructed just north of the Mexican border so that it was no longer necessary to <br />convey water to the Imperial Valley through Mexico. <br /> <br />Seeing increasing water use in the United States, Mexico sought to secure its <br />rights to Colorado River water. The ratification of the 1944 Mexican Water Treaty by <br />both nations secured for Mexico the right to about twice the water it was then using, <br />1.5 million acre-feet per year. Following ratification of the Treaty, Mexican land <br />cultivation and water use steadily increased. By the 1960s and continuing to the <br />present time, about 186,000 hectares (460,000 acres) of land in the Mexicali and San <br />Luis Rfo Colorado Valleys are farmed. Today, water is delivered at two points, the <br />Northerly International Boundary, immediately upstream from Morelos Dam (about <br />1,360,000 acre-feet per year) and at the Southerly International Boundary near San <br />Luis, Arizona, and San Luis Rfo Colorado, Sonora (about 140,000 acre-feet per <br />year) . <br /> <br />To supplement the Colorado River water delivered under the Treaty, wells <br />have been installed and now produce about 730,000 acre-feet annually. <br /> <br />A. Interaction between CNA and the Modules <br /> <br />,Mexico.s National Water Law provides for institutional and strategic <br />management for all waters that belong to the nation. Under this law, the Comisfon <br />Nacional de Agua~ (CNA) is the federal agency that defines water policies and <br />administers the implementation of those policies. A branch office of CNA is located <br />in each state, including Baja California. Most day-to-day management and <br />administration activities are delegated to the state, office. Throughout Mexico, CNA <br />has designated individual water management areas as "Districts." District 014 <br />