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. . oJ N W en 00 In 1942 the All American Canal entered into operation, that is, it was now no longer necessary to carry the water of the Colorado River through Mexican territory 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 which it has the right, and this canal remained abandoned for the exclusive service of Mexico which already had in cultivation that year more than l20,000 hectares (296,500 acres) in Mexicali Valley. The situation in 1942 showed us how well founded were our fears because that year, during several of the hottest weeks, there came from the great American dams constructed on the Colorado River only a small volume which did not per- mit the filling of the requirements of irrigat~on in Mexico. And with this came the clamor of the public-land holders, 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 Dam a great flow of water which overflowed in Mexico, inundating cultivated lands and ruining the crops of other thousands of hectares. That is, even when it is true that the total volume of surpluses 'which flow-through the Colorado River will still be very great in many years, its current is from now on so irregu- lar that it can be stated that, while during some weeks the Mexican lands of the Mexicali Valley can be dying of thirst, ... in the following weeks they may be choked and submerged by the inundations provoked by discharges from the American dams. Under these conditions the agriculture of Mexicali Valley is in desperate condition. In order to better it, without the Treaty, it has been necessary for the Mexican Government, in the years of 1943, 1944 and the present year, to be constantly requesting of the American Government that the discharges be now increased, that tomorrow they be diminished, that part of the water be furnished through the All American Canal, etc. This critical situation makes clear how unfounded is the opinion of some of our citizens who believe that Mexico should not be preoccupied in the case of the Colorado River and that the Treaty was not needed, as it could always take the abundant water which inevitably flows in the Colorado River. We insist that, effectively, in the case of the Colo- rado River as in the case of the Mexican tributaries of the Information Bulletin #l8 -11- January 12, 1962 _1& "1> }>' ,~