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upper basin and lower basin and wherever necessary the states of the upper [basin] shall deliver at Lee Ferry water to supply one-half of the defi- ciency so recognized." In 1944, the u.s. and Republic of Mexico signed the Mexican Water Treaty in which the United States agreed to deliver 1.5 million acre-feet of Colorado River water to Mexico annually except under surplus or shortage conditions. Today, according to Mike Clinton, general manager of the Imperial Irrigation District (lID), the Mexicali Valley is using some- where between 2.25 million acre-feet and 2.5 million acre-feet, the differ- ence coming from groundwater. Among the seven basin states, the overriding issue is interpretation of the delivery obligation contained within Article III(c), and whether the upper basin is responsible for any evapora- tion and conveyance losses between Lee's Ferry and the Mexican border. "The compact guarantees the lower basin 75 million acre-feet of water in any rolling lO-year period. To make these deliveries, we release a minimum of 8.23 million acre-feet per year," said Charley Calhoun, regional director of the Bureau's Colorado River upper basin division. "The upper basin states may tell you they are not responsible for making water available to Mexico. "Over the years there has been plenty of water in the system and the states, other than California, have not taken their full share," Calhoun continued. "However, as California wrestles with its fellow lower basin states and as California interests .. wrestle even among themselves "concerning what [Interior] Secretary Bruce Babbitt calls 'serious unresolved 'controversies between agricultural agencies and among the urban water uppliers,' the upper basin states may e rethinking their views." To date, water for Mexico has ome, in part, from unused upper basin ows. Upper basin states, however, aintain that their goal is to fully eve lop to use their full entitlement, perhaps lessening the amount they contribute to Mexico. "The discussions in Utah have always been along the lines that the upper basin's obligation is no more than 75 million acre-feet every 10 years, and that the lower basin tribu- taries are included in the Mexican treaty obligation," said Dallin Jensen, former solicitor general of Utah. "I am not convinced that the upper basin states will concur that [they] have the obligation to supply half of the con- veyance losses to the border. I think there's an argument under the compact that the obligation of the upper basin is to deliver its share at Lee Ferry." Another major concern on Mexico's part is the salinity of its supply. "Mexico said that the water treaty was a treaty concluded for the utilization of the waters of this river, and therefore the waters delivered to Mexico should be usable waters," said Robert Ybarra, U.s. foreign affairs officer for the International Boundary and Water Commission (IBWC), the two-country commission that ensures terms of these agreements are met. "The United States recognized that there was only so much water available when the negotiations took place - this is after the compact - and knew that a large part of the contribution to Mexico would be made out of drainage waters. Therefore, the clause 'any and all sources.'" While salinity was addressed in a later agreement, groundwater use was not. Groundwater use is a concern because as the United States pursues efforts to line the All-American Canal to prevent seepage and conserve water, it will reduce the amount of ground- water within the aquifer along the U.S.-Mexico border upon which many Mexicans rely. "We have challenges with Mexico that I don't think we have begun to recognize," Clinton said. "So as we look at this transition from the dream of the compact coming true to where we go from here - that's one of the challenges we in this nation need to address and consider." Western Water