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':',L~r: r'-' .~.':." "-r.. . '.,~ . .r .... "-,. -,'" .~ 10 MEXICAN WATER TREATY At another point, Lie. Em;iquez was reported by the offieiaInews-! paper of the Mexican Government as follows: ' A Judgment in arbitration, saip Enriquez, on treating this aspect of the agree~ ment, would not give to Mexioo the advantages that she obtains ~th the water treaty now signed. The arbitrator only has JacuUie. to declare what quantity oj water would belong to Mexico and to the United States, respectively. He never would be able to determine what works ought to be built in the limitrophe sections of the rivers, with the object of obtaining a better use of the :flow. Enriquez stated: his opinion that possibly with respect to the Colorado there would. be concef],ed to Mexico an award greater than that which the present treaty assigns to her, but that gU(lntity would have to be received in accord with natural :/low conditions of the rifler. Mexico could not pretend to use without compensation of any 80rt the costly work8 jor manage_ me-nt and regulation made in the United States. Consequently" if' our country did get more water, it would receive it not in the months of low stage of the river, but divided according'to the natural flow of the river, and therefore in ,the summer, which is when water 18 really most valuable for irrigation~ its portion would be much less than that which it can have available in accoraance with the tre_aty, wluch permits it to demand the water in greater quantity, acoording_ to its neceB~ sities in the months of greatest consumptio.n (EI N acional, August' 7, 1945). [Emphasis supplied.] The saPle official newspaper reports the following exchange between the ehairPlan of the cOPlmittee, Lie. Garcia de Alba and pne of the opponents, Lie. Manzanera del Oampo (EI Nacional, September 13, 1945): Senator Garcia de Alba, presiding, initiated the period of interrogation by asking Lie. Manzanera del Campo: Which will be most benefi9ial to Mexico, to receive 2,300,000 acre~feet of wild; unregulated (bronca) water, 01'_ in place thereof 1,500,000 acre-feet of regulated ~quantitativas) waters, at the times when they are necessarYI such as during the Inonths of low stages in the river? : Manza-ner~ del Campo responded categorically that it was obvious that h~ would prefer, the controlled waters. Before leaving this point of who needed the treaty, Mexieo or the United States, let us turn again to the informative report of lng, Orive Alba. After referring to the construction of Bou]der Dam and the AlI~ American canal Orive A]ba states (p. 12): . , . . We Mexican engineers, when wesaw that these gigantic works were being executed, understood that there approached the critical tnomeht for Mexico iIi' which the lands of the Mexicali Valley' ran the danger of returning to their condition of one of the most in.hospitable deserts in the world through lack of' water, since our country would have to depend o'n taking water, in the manner that it might best be able to do itl froIn the Colorado River by using occasional surpluses that might f!ow through said river. In 1942 the An-Americ~ canal entered into operation rthat is, it was no longer necessary to carry the water of the Colorado River through, Mexican ~erritory in order to irrigate American lands and therefore it was not possible for' Mexico' to take part of the 50' percent of the water in the Alamo Canal to whichit had the right, and this. canal remained abandoned for -the exclusive 'service of Mexii:o, which already had in cultivation that year more than 120,000 hectares (300,000 acres) in Mexicali Valley. The situation in 1942 showed us how well founded were our fears be_cause that year, during ,several of the hottest weeks, there came from the-gre'at-- Americ~n dams constructed on the Colorado River only a sm.all volume which dtd not per- mit of filling the requirements of irrigation- in- Mexico. And with this_ came .the clamor of the public landholders, the small owners, and colonists of our Colorado River irrigation district; who saw their -crops lost for lack 'of ,water. But. there-is even more, for at the end of the summer, there came from Boulder Da;m -Q ~re~t . flow of water which overflowe!i in Mexico, inundating cultiva.ted-Iands apd ruIlling the crops of oth~r thousands of hectares. ,_ '., That is, even when it is true that the total volume of the surpluses which flow th.rough th~. Colorado -River will still be very great in many years, its ,curre~t :is from now on so irregular that it can be stated that, while during some week~ the ',''',;. ,',_7".,-' ",.