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.\ 000397 the Missouri River basin plan, which is located on a tributary of the Yellowstone and on which pre-construction work had started, is being held in abeyance pending the outcome of the effectuation of the compact. A treaty exists between the United states and Canada with respect to r tn~ St: Ma~y and Milk Rivers; Tbi5 treaty ~a5 ne~ess~ry i~ nrnAr that certain works might be constructed to provide a supplemental water supply for the Milk River Project which is located in the United States. The principle of equitable apportionment and beneficial use is illustrated by the following ?ortion of Articl~ VI of the treaty: ".....the St. Mary and Milk Rivers and their tributaries (in the State of Montana and the Provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan) are to be treated as one stream for the pur,lose of irrigation and power, ,and the waters thereof shull be apportioned equally betv;een the two countries, but in making such equal apportionment more than half may be taken from one river and less than half from the other by either country so as to afford a more beneficial use to each." I should like now to describe the international situation between the Uni ted States and Ilexico which has developed on the lower Rio Grande on the Colo- rado River, and 01. the Tiajuana River. Beginning in the early 1900's irrigation of lower Rio Grande lands in the vicinity of Brownsville, Texas, started and pro- ceeded at a rapid rate. At the present time some 600,000 acres of lRnd are irri- ~ated in that area. T~is is a very rich agricultural area, the principal crops being citrus fruits and winter vegetables. I'exico began a corresponding develop- ment at a considerably later date. Because of the topography of the area, and be- cause there was no treaty between the United States and Mexico to permit the con- struction of diversion dams, all the water used on the United States side had to be pumped, and now is being pumped, from the river. On the other hand, the land on the Mexican side slopes away from the river in such a way that gravity diversions can be made without diversion structures. The Retamal Heading was constructed by IIexico in the 1930' s. This heading is located above approximately t'.Jo-thirds of the pump headings in the United States. Clearing of lands in ;,iexico proceeded at a rapid raGe. In the meantime, what is now known as the Illarte Gomez dam was constructed near the mouth of the San Juan River, one of the principal Mexican tributaries of the lower Rio Grande. No outlet was provided from the storage dam. The development of lands under the San Juan project proceeded at a rapid rate. There developed a real threat to the water supplies which had been used by United States interests for some years. Efforts to negotiate a treaty over the waters of the Rio Grande and the Colorado were initiated in 1923 and abandoned in 1928. In face of the impending danger, the United States Section of what was then the International Boundary Com- mission conceived what was known as Federal Project No.5, which was authorized by the Congress for construction in 1941. It consisted of an extremely long canal to divert water from the Rio Grande on.the United States side and carry it to an off- channel reservoir from which water would be released through a power plant into another long channel, thence into a terminal reservoir. From the terminal reser- voir, water would be released into a gravity canal to serve all of the United Stams lands by gravity. The purpose of the project was to convert from an international status to a domestic status those waters which were being used, and had been used for sometime, by Texas irrigators. -10-