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002045 example, as parcels of land or the associated water rights are sold or leased, CNA registers those changes in the REPDA and adjusts water deliveries to the individual modules accordingly. Irrigation rights are tied to parcels of land. Under CNNs current practice, such rights are allocated within the district, based on a formula that assigns a specific volume of water based on the size of a parcel. An assigned water right is registered in the REPDA with a reference to the size of a parcel and not by a specific volume of water.22 The calculation of the volume of water granted to every parcel holding an irrigation right can vary from year to year, depending on availability, as detennined by CNA. However, this is not an issue in District 014 because of the stable water supply from the Colorado River assured under the Treaty, as well as reliable supplies of groundwater. Under the water allocation rules applicable in Irrigation District 014, urban, industrial, and domestic water uses take priority over agricultural uses.23 As discussed below, the new draft rules of operation will distribute quantities of water among users, in proportion to the volumes of water previously assigned to each user without regard to the type of use. 24 The duration of an irrigation right is uncertain in light of the pending rules. Irrigation rights issued prior to 1992 and registered in the REPDA are valid for at least ten years from December 1, 1992 - the date of entry into force of the NWL. 25 Thus, any such rights will be valid at least until 2002. However, holders of irrigation rights are also made subject to all limitations applicable to concession holders, and the law specifies that concessions have a term of up to 50 years. Although it is not clear whether the sunset provision on pre-1992 irrigation rights will be enforced by CNA, it seems unlikely that it will, given CNNs delay in bringing the irrigation Rights System into conformity with the concession system. Most of the water rights available for purchase in District 014 are irrigation rights. Such right$ may be changed from an agricultural use to other uses, as long as there is a prior authorization from the lrrigatiqn District (CNA), and the new,use is in accord with the NWL. 26 CNA officials in Mexicali have confirmed that approval is generall.y granted. A concession title - not an irrigation right - is issued to the transferee. In this way, the change'in water use is used as a way of converting old irrigation rights into the new concession titles, and merging the two water management systems into the new concession system. The transfer of irrigation rights is still governed by the rules of operation27 enacted by Irrigation District 014 in 1964, prior to the adoption of resource conservation principles in most. laws in Mexico. Although the 1964 rules are not very detailed in their description of the requirements for transferring irrigation rights, a transfer is allowed, as long as a water right is sold jointly with the parcel to which it attaches as registered in the REPDA.28 Draft rules of operation to replace the 1964 rules for District 014 are pending approval by CNA headquarters ,in Mexico City.29 The draft rules are more flexible in allowing the transfer and change of use of irrigation rights. For purposes of this report, we assume that the proposed rules will be adopted. Under Articles 56 and 59 of the draft rules of operation for the district, the transfer of irrigation rights for use other than irrigation also will require the prior approval of the General Assembly of Users within each irrigation unit, or module (modulo). According to CNA, however, such approval would only be necessary if the transferee planned to use the irrigation unit's distribution infrastructure. 30