WSPC12525

• File Number: 8282.400
• Description: Colorado River Operations and Accounting - Deliveries to Mexico
• State: CO
• Basin: Colorado Mainstem
• Water Division: 5
• Date: 9/11/2001
• Author: Unknown
• Title: Colorado River Delta Symposium - United States-Mexico - Mexicali-Baja California - Symposium Report - Reviewed Copy with Staff Notes- 09-11-01
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: Report/Study

COLORADO
RIVER DELTA
BI-NATIONAL
SYMPOSIUM
PROCEEDINGS

ENGLISH
14

source, and we support the process that is in
place to identify the issues and to search for
appropriate means to address them. We also
believe that the goal of this conference, which is
to establish a shared factual understanding of
current conditions, is the appropriate starting
point for any effort to address these issues. In
fact, this conference grew, in part, out of a
specific request for a greater understanding of
the Delta region that emerged from discussions
between the United States stakeholders and the
federal government last year.
As we proceed with this conference and with
Delta discussions, we believe that this effort
. should be guided by five fundamental prin-
ciples. First. the Delta calls for a bi-national
approach which fully respects the sovereignty ~f
both nations. Second, sound sciencp ''!nO rlA_ -
.. .~
tailed knowledge must be the foundation of
every proposal for actiop. Third, the solution
'~st fit within the existing framewQXk. Fourth,
the process should serve as a forum for the free
exchange of information. And fifth, and perhaps
most importantly, !! is critical that w~k
s9lutions that are positive for stakeholder~ on
both sides of the border.
- -
I want to emphasize this last point. The
Colorado River, from its headwaters in the State
of Colorado to its final destination in the Gulf of
California, is a vital water lifeline for the most
arid region of North America.
Within the United States, it's been called the
River of Controversy, and the limited waters of
the Colorado have indeed been the source of
numerous, and at times bitter, domestic conflicts.
Our Upper Basin states have struggled to protect
their right to future development in light of the
faster growing population centers in lower basin
cities.
Arizona has repeatedly sought judicial help t
protect its claims on the river. California has
had to confront the limits of its entitlement even
as its needs have grown dramatically, and the
same is true for Nevada who has to deal with
the explosive growth of the Las Vegas area.

Further, we know that our history, our
common history, is that the United States and
Mexico achieved a treaty in 1944 after decades of
debate. We remain committed to honor and
protect the compromise between our two
nations which is embodied in the treaty and
which has allowed the waters of the Colorado to
be harnessed and fully utilized on both sides of
the international border.
I mention this sensitive history to contrast it
with the progress our basin states, the seven
states within the United States of the Colorado
River Basin, have made recently in fashioning
consensual approaches to a number of difficult
and long-standing problems.
Nevada and Arizona have negotiated an
innovative method for storing water that can
stretch the river's supply to meet Nevada's
impending needs. In California, new proposals
for conservation in agricultural use are facilitat-
ing transfers to meet metropolitan demand
through voluntary agreements. Similarly, all
basin states have come together to support a
plan that will permit California to bring its
Colorado River uses within its entitlement. All
these efforts show the value of consensus-based
.,
negotiation. They also demonstrate how tightly
allocated the Colorado River is within the
available supply.
In moving forward with the next important
agenda items for the Colorado, and particularly
those involving the Colorado River Delta, we
cannot jeopardize these innovative foundations
that are essential to the future administration of
the river.
In addition, the United States faces its own se
of difficult issues with respect to the drainage
bypass flows to the Cienega de Santa Clara
which have been recognized as an important
wetland habitat within the Delta region, The
United States government, however, has a
national obligation to replace the bypass flows
for water users in the United States. We are
hopeful that innovative solutions can be found
which respect the interests of the water users in