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<br />n~"-,:, <br />i <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />ADVANTAGES OF THE TREATY WITH RESl?ECT 1'0 THE COLORADO RIVER. <br /> <br />N <br />c..u <br />'1 <br />N <br /> <br />By means of the Treaty the critical fortuitous condi- <br />tion of the crops of l20,000 hectares (296,500 acres) farmed <br />at present is eliminated (area times 4.1 feet = l,2l5,650 <br />acre-feet present annual use). <br /> <br />The Treaty permits of increasing the cultivated area <br />to the total of the area that can be cultivated economically, <br />that is, to 200,000 net hectares (494,200 acres). <br /> <br />The Treaty provides for construction of works by the <br />two countries for defense against inundations, with which this <br />great danger to Mexican lands will be removed. <br /> <br />Finally, the cost of these works is extraordinarily <br />reasonable, since the storage dams which always constitute <br />the heaviest part of the cost of all large irrigation works <br />are not included in any of the costs for Mexico and of the <br />cost of the diversion works Imperial Dam and All American <br />Canal we will only have to pay a part proportional to the <br />use that we may make of them. <br /> <br />In closing this chapter I believe it convenient to <br />note that Mexicali Valley is agriculturally the most important <br />zone in all of Lower California, because in the rest of that <br />territor.y there cannot be irrigated, in total, even the fourth <br />part of the area of 200,000 hectares (494,200 acres) which the <br />great Colorado River irrigation district will have. <br /> <br />OBJECTIONS TO THE TREATY WITH RESPECT TO THE COLORADO RIVER. <br /> <br />As in the case of the Rio Grande, we will only refer <br />to the objections of a technical character. <br /> <br />1. It is objected that the water which is given us from the <br />Colorado can be of poor quality, either because it may <br />contain an excess of silt or an excess of salts. <br /> <br />With regard to the silt, the reality is exactly the <br />contrary. The American dams constructed on the Colorado River <br />have served so that the silt which the:current brings with it <br />is deposited in them, for which reason the Colorado River <br />actually passes through Mexico with a small percentage of silt, <br />and is scouring the bed of the river instead of filling it <br />with silt. <br /> <br /> <br />Information Bulletin #l8 <br /> <br />-l5- <br /> <br />January 12, 1962 <br /> <br />,~ <br />r _8 <br />i.:i}] <br />