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<br />I <br /> <br />I <br /> <br />responsibili ty. <br /> <br />Secondly, we wanted simultaneous adoption of the Colorado River Salin- <br />ity Control Bill, so that we wouldn't have this problem of coming in <br />second after a major amount of money had been spent. We wanted the <br />well situation kept apart from this. We thought it was no part of <br />the compact and ought to be settled separately. It shouldn't be <br />given away at this stage of the game. All of these things were <br />brought clearly and carefully to Mr. Brownell's attention. We were <br />of the opinion before the treaty was adopted that they would be <br />considered. In fairness to him, he was appointed with instructions <br />to reach agreement by a certain date and the only way he could reach <br />agreement was to concede practically everything that Mexico asked. <br />r would love to play poker with some of those state department nego- <br />tiators. They start off with their best offer instead of starting <br />off with their worst one and trying to reach some place in between. <br />I guess it is just because I don't know how international negotiations <br />are carried out. There was tremendous concern in the state depart- <br />ment that we would get a bad name in Mexico. Apparently, they weren't <br />nearly as much concerned about the bad name they were going to get <br />in the Colorado River Basin. <br /> <br />The full amount of the bypass of the Wellton-Mohawk would be <br />something like between 170 and 200,000 acre-feet a year. When this <br />goes into effect the 1st of July we can't put Wellton-Mohawk water <br />in the river. To deliver the million and a half acre-feet, it means <br />releases from storage. <br /> <br />I can't agree more strongly that the seven basin states must, and I <br />think they will, unite in adoption of the Colorado River Salinity <br />control Act which Larry referred to, S. 774. And I think Larry <br />stated it to you correctly. The seven basin states, as far as I <br />know, are unanimously for it and will use whatever political clout <br />they have to see that it is passed. It has been a very frustrating <br />experience and it is a one-way agreement. It shouldn't have bappened <br />as far as the wells are concerned. Mexico had already put in wells <br />and they were producing 160,000 acre-feet. They kindly consented <br />that if we wanted to, we could put in enough wells to pump 160,000 <br />acre-feet on our side of the boundary and use that water to replace <br />the amount of water that previously flowed to Mexico by gravity. <br />This is the worst Rube Goldberg waste of money I can conceive of. <br />They kept telling us that if we don't reach agreement with Mexico, <br />we will be liable for a lot of damages to lands in the Mexicali Valley. <br />We didn't think that in the first place. In the second place, they <br />came back and said, "You didn't pay any damages, but you got a large <br />nonreimbursable grant to the people in the valley." I don't know of <br /> <br />-11- <br />