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<br />." ,-~'. . <br /> <br />o c-f ~ ItI17 l' <br /> <br />r":) <br />) <br />... <br />to <br />-..J <br />N <br /> <br />TilE INTERNAT.IONAL PROBLEN OF TilE <br />SALINITY OF TilE DOPIER CODORADO RIVER <br />AND <br />THE AGRE:EMENT P/TTH NEXICO FOR ITS SODUTION lj <br /> <br />A. <br /> <br />~"he Problem <br /> <br />The 1944 United States-Mexico Treaty for Utilization of Waters of <br /> <br />the Colorado and Tijuana Rivers and of the Rio Grande allots .to Nexico <br /> <br />a guaL'anteed annual quantity of 1,500,000 acre-feet "of the waters of <br /> <br />the Co1.orado River, from any and all sources..." and "...whatever their <br /> <br />., " <br />or1.g1.n... . <br /> <br />Mex.ico and the united States have had differing inte.rpretations of <br /> <br />these and related treaty prov.isions as they may affect water quality. <br /> <br />Questions relating to quality did not become a practical issue until <br /> <br />1961. In that year quality became a serious issue. Pumping of highly <br /> <br />saline drainage from the We1lton-Nohawk District began and at about <br /> <br />tIle same t.ime the availability of excess river flows reaching Mexico <br /> <br />came virtually to an end. The Well ton-Mohawk pumped drainage had <br /> <br />initially a salinity as high as 6,000 parts per million because the <br /> <br />p,wlped wate1.'s from the underground aquifer contained highly saline <br /> <br />past accumulations. The effect was ~o increase the average annual <br /> <br />salinity of waters made available to Nexico in the Colorado River above <br /> <br />its main diversion structure frrun an annual average of about 800 parts <br /> <br />per million to nearly 1,500 parts per million. <br /> <br />In November 1961, Nexico formally protested that "the del.ivery of <br /> <br />,,'ater that is harmfu.l for the purposes stated in the 1'reaty constitutes <br /> <br />a violation of' the TI'eaty," and that "any contamination. of international <br /> <br />ij As pL'esented for the U.S. Section of the International Boundary and Water <br />ConmIission by Principal Engj.neer Delbert McNealy on Octobor 5, 1974, at <br />Yuma, l,ri20na, before the pubLic hearing on the draft environmentdl impact <br />statement on the Colorado River lntcrnational Salinity control project~ <br /> <br />/ <br /> <br />8271.300 <br />-.-_'-"\...1 <br />