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<br />
<br />Q' Can you s ununarize for us \Y'hat' the
<br />agreement is?
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<br />AHBASSADOR BROWNELL: The agreement is
<br />substantially this, That starting next ye-ar, the United
<br />States agrees with Nexico that the salinity of the
<br />Colorado River as it goes over the International Border
<br />>,i11 be at a. specified level, >Ihich is desceibedas'
<br />115 parts per million, plus or minus' 30, and that mea~s
<br />that we have agreed to eliminate the adverse salinity
<br />effects of the Wellton-Mohawk district which'was opened
<br />up about 12 years ago a~d largely caqaed this excess
<br />s.alini ty .
<br />
<br />In order to carry that agreement into effect,
<br />that promise to Mexico to improve the quality of the water,
<br />the Administration will present a program to Congress,
<br />perhaps next month, which will call for building a
<br />desalting plant in Arizona to desalt the waters that come
<br />, from the Weliton~Mohawk district.
<br />
<br />In addition to that, in order to obtain more
<br />and a better quality of water, the proposed legislation
<br />will provide for relining a segment of about 50 miles
<br />of the Coachella Canal in California, and the third big
<br />public work that is involved will be the building
<br />,of a drainage outlet from the desalting plant right
<br />through Mexico to the Santa Clara slough on the Gulf
<br />of California which will drain off the brine which comes
<br />from the 'desalting plant.
<br />
<br />Q Mr. Amba$sador, could you give us some
<br />words so that us Easterners can understand th,e impor-
<br />tance of this thing? Economically, how important is
<br />i,t to the fanners?
<br />
<br />Al4BASSADOR BROWNELL: I think so, by doing
<br />a brief amount of background.
<br />
<br />Th!3 United States and 11exico entered into an
<br />agreement in 1944 which called.for delivery of a certain
<br />quantity of water to 'Mexico each year, but there was
<br />nothing said in the agreement about the quality of the
<br />water and, when_ some of these irrigation districts opened
<br />up, like the Wellton-Mohewk district, it substantially
<br />decreased the quality of the water so that Mexico had
<br />complained that it made it impossible for them to profitably
<br />use irrigated lands in the Mexicali Valley for the
<br />growing of agricultural crops.
<br />
<br />Their claim was a substantial one and many hundreds
<br />of acres, if not thousands of acres, in their caloulations,
<br />were adversely affected by the low quality of the water.
<br />And many acres were taken out of cultivation all together
<br />so that it meant a decrease in tlleir agricultural. income
<br />and it meant. a decrease in the standard of living,
<br />according to their reports, of many of the farmers in
<br />that area of Mexico.
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