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<br />"'I ... ~ / <"'J I <br />t i. ,,,,...;,: <1 "t <br /> <br />not to enter negotiations on a long-term agreement until a new president, Luis <br />Echeverria Alvarez, took office in December 1970. <br /> <br />The Search for a "Permanent, Definitive and Just Solution" <br /> <br />During 1971, the U.S. and the new Mexican administration discussed a settlement <br />based on the equivalent salt balance concept. By November, U.S negotiators <br />believed that they were close to reaching an agreement, 8 but in early 1972 the <br />Mexican government rejected U.S. proposals. In June 1972 President Echeverria <br />arrived in Washington with a stronger demand: parity. Mexicali Valley farmers <br />should receive water of the same quality as American water users served by <br />Imperial Dam, then about 870 ppm. <br /> <br />President Nixon responded in a joint communique issued June 17, in which he <br />promised to: 1) take action immediately to improve the quality of water going to <br />Mexico; 2) appoint a special representative to find a "permanent, definitive and <br />just" solution to the salinity problem and report to him by the end of the year; and <br />3) submit a u.S.-approved proposal to President Echeverria for consideration and <br />approval. The mwc was directed to draw up and sign a Minute containing this <br />program.9 <br /> <br />In preparation for the Mexican President's visit, the Office of Management and <br />Budget (OMB) and the Departments of State and the Interior, briefed President <br />Nixon on possible diplomatic courses of action and short- and long-term measures -....) <br />to reduce salinity levels of water delivered to Mexico. In the short run, bypassing <br />some portion of return flows and replacing it with better quality water from <br />another source seemed the only practical means. Long-term solutions fell into <br />four categories: 1) continuing to bypass Wellton-Mohawk return flows and <br />substituting less saline water from other sources (including "new water" from <br />weather modification and other augmentation technologies then under study); 2) <br />eliminating salt loading by totally or partially shutting down the project; 3) <br />desalting all or part of the return flows; and 4) regulating salinity according to <br />state-by-state water quality standards, restricting irrigation or requiring more <br />efficient on-farm water management practices where necessary. <br /> <br />Before the Echeverria visit, the simplest and least expensive course of action <br />appeared to be to continue to bypass-and substitute better quality water for-some <br />portion of the return flows, while the issue of an acceptable salinity level was <br />resolved diplomatically. After the Well ton-Mohawk project reached salt balance, <br />the U.S could undertake more costly or controversial measures to permanently <br />maintain the negotiated salinity level. This approach had several advantages: it <br />would have given Mexico an immediate reduction in salinity, preserved the legal <br />positions of both parties during negotiations over ultimate salinity levels, and <br />deferred capital expenditures or politically unpopular decisions. The Colorado <br />Basin states had been willing to support the equivalent salt balance concept; <br /> <br />brownell,rpt <br /> <br />4 <br /> <br />September 1991 <br />