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(fD-,27;Z---~-_. ------ Salinity of the Lower Colorado River/35 but only by sacrificing quantities of water from its guaranteed treaty allotment. 1971-1972 Attempts for a New Agreement In December, 1970, Luis Echeverria became President of Mexico. In his campaign for election, he had visited farmers in the Mexicali Valley and heard their protests regarding the salinity of waters received from the United States. The farmers blamed their poor crop yields on high salinity levels in the river. This led President Echeverria to take up the cause of the Mexicali farmers. In late 1971 and early 1972, United States State Depart- ment negotiators met with negotiators from the Foreign Rela- tions Department of Mexico in an attempt to reach a new agreement for solution of the salinity problem. But the discus- sions broke down. The Mexican representatives said that the United States' proposed reductions in the salinity of waters de- livered to Mexico were too small to be acceptable. THE SOLUTION In June, 1972, President Echeverria met with President Nixon in Washington and spoke before a jOint session of the Congress. He focused the presentation on the issue of the salin- ity of the Colorado Riyer waters delivered to Mexico. The Mexican President stated his government's position that the waters delivered to Mexico under the 1944 Treaty be of the same quality as the water- delivered to United States users at Imperial Dam (then about 870 ppm). President Nixon assured President Echeverria of his sincere desire for a definitive solu- tion to the salinity problem at the earliest possible time. Their meeting resulted in a Joint Communique, triggering a new phase in the search for a solution. In the Joint Communique, President Nixon stated that he was prepared to: (a) undertake certain actions immediately to improve the quality of the wa- ter going to Mexico; and, (b) designate a special representative to begin work immediately to find a permanent, definitive and just solution to the problem. The measures ordered by President Nixon to improve im- mediately the quality of water going to Mexico were incorpo- rated in Minute No. 241 of the International Boundary and Water Commission dated July 14, 1972.6 The immediate effect was to reduce the average annual salinity of the waters deliv- ered to Mexico by about 100 ppm - from about 1,240 ppm to 1,140 ppm. The reduction was achieved by increasing the quantity of Wellton-Mohawk drainage waters that were by- passed to the river below Mexico's diversion dam, from about 50,000 acre-feet per year to about 118,000 acre-feet per year.