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<br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />t4) <br />00 <br />Q <br />00 <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />United States-Mexican Disagreement <br />Over Salinity <br /> <br />Although the issue of salinity is also not specifically referred to in <br /> <br />the 1944 Mexican Water Treaty, the subject was on the minds of the <br /> <br />negotiators on both sides. Apparently, both parties wanted the treaty <br /> <br />and neither wanted to open up a subject that was likely to bog down <br /> <br />negotiations in a dispute that might last for years.3 In testimony given <br /> <br />to the Senate after the treaty was signed, the United States negotiators <br /> <br />firmly disavowed any commitment on water quality.4 The negotiators <br /> <br />for Mexico apparently had a different interpretation, however, and <br /> <br />repeatedly voiced the belief that the United States had obligated itself <br /> <br />to deliver to Mexico water of the same quality as that delivered at <br /> <br />Imperial Dam. The issue reached a head when Welton-Mohawk drain- <br /> <br />age water and reduced flows associated with upstream development <br /> <br />caused salinity levels in the waters reaching Mexico to increase to l500 <br /> <br />ppm in 1962. In November of 1961, the Mexican government initiated <br /> <br />another around of negotiations with the United States seeking to reduce <br /> <br />the salinity of its received waters. These negotiations resulted in <br /> <br />Minute 218 (l965) and a subsequent reduction of salinity levels in Mexico's <br /> <br />received wa.ters (l240 ppm in 1971). <br /> <br />Still dissatisfied, however, Mexico's President Alvarez visited <br /> <br />the United States in 1972 and threatened to take the matter of salinity to <br /> <br />the World Court unless Mexican farmers received approximately the <br /> <br />l7 <br /> <br />,,; <br /> <br />.ll,_;,~ <br />