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JOINT DEPARTMENTS OF ,.-.( :. . ,~ :;; , ,} ~~~~; STATE-~~A::' 1972 (For release after signing of Minute and exchange of letters of approval.) N uC::i- '" i-" ,AGREEMENT FOR IMPROVEMENT OF COLORADO RIVER WATER DELIVERED TO MEXICO The Governments of the United States and Mexico today approved an . agreement providing for immediate improvement in the quality of Colorado River water to be delivered to Mexico, it was announced by Acting Secretary of State John N. Irwin II (Secretary of State Willi'am P. Rogers after 6:00 p.m. Wednesday) and Secretary of the Interior Rogers Morton. This agreement will result in an estimated average annual reduction of at least 100 parts per million of dissolved salts in the Colorado River waters made available to Mexico as compared. to 1971. The, agreement, called , Minute No. .241 of the International Boundary and Water Commission, was signed by the U. S. and Mexican Commissioners today, and they afterward exchanged letters announcing the approval of the Minute by their respective Governments. The Minute thereupon became operative 'through December 31, 1972.. 'On June'17 the Presidents of the United States and Mexico jointly announced that the United States would undertake certain 'actions immediately to improve the quality of the Colorado River water going ,to Mexico. They instructed the International Boundary and Water Commission to prepare and signa Minute to implement this announcement and to incorporate the program and commitments announced at the same time to find a definitive,. equitable and just solution to this salinity problem at the earliest possible time. This Minute complies with these instructions. Under the Minute the United States will discharge drainage waters from the Wellton-Mohawk Irrigation and Drainage District of Arizona to the Colorado River below Morelos Dam, Mexico's diversion point, at the annual rate of 118,000 acre-feet. In place of these waters, amounting to 73,000 acre-feet during the remainder of 1972, the United States will substitute an equal quantity of other waters, 41,000 acre-feet from above Imperial Dam, located about 22 miles upstream from the California-Baja California boundary, and 32,000 acre-feet from twelve wells on the Yuma Mesa in southwestern Arizona. The United States will thus deliver to Mexico its annual allotment of 1.5 million acre-feet without including the drainage waters for which substitution is made. This substitution will reduce the annual average salinity of the water delivered to Mexico to an estimated 1140 ppm from the 1242 ppm experienced in 1971. .~ ;~~.r~ ~~ _O,".".;r,~ .:i~l;l '}{'- ~~~ . \~f:::i~ ~:~':f~ ~~l~