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~ ~ ~ UJ . . With respect to the possibility that the waters of the Colorado River which are delivered to us may be of poor qual- ity, because they contain dissolved salts, we are able to affirm, based on reasons of legal and technical nature, that fortunately such a danger does not exist. In the official report to the Senate that the National Irrigation Commission is terminating, this theme will be considered more fully, in order to do away with any doubt that may be had in this respect. It is not within the purpose and the time set for this report to do it as fully as is necessary, but we may point out at least the following reasons: (a) The negotiations of the Treaty on the part of the Ameri- can delegation and later its approval by the American Senate, were made by taking as a fundamental basis the official document called the Santa Fe Agreement, which, with the approval of the American Federal Government, distributed, since 1922, the main stream of the Colorado River among the American States of the upper and lower basins, and specified that the water assigned to Mexico should be taken from the excess of the average virgin volume of the river which is 22,000,000,000 cubic meters (l7,835,000 acre-feet). Our assignment of l,850,234,000 cubic meters (l,500,OOO acre-feet) is included, then, within the 2,000,000,000 cubic meters (l,62l,000 acre- feet) of the difference. The virgin waters of the Colorado River are of good quality. Besides this, even a superficial study of the Treaty shows, from the intro- duction to the transitory articles with which it termin- ates, that it is inspired with the fact that 'it is to the interests of both countries to take advantage of these waters in other uses and consumptions * * * in order to obtain from it the most complete and satisfac- tory utilization'. This is a paragraph transcribed from the preface. In article 27 of the transitory articles it is clearly stated that the use to which these waters are to be put is that of irrigation. Therefore, in this Treaty, as in any other of its kind, it is understood that the water must be of good quality. Mexico has the right to have the water that is assigned to it from the Colorado River proceed entirely from the virgin volume of the current, but knowing that this is physically impossible to obtain for any use of water downstream on any river fully utilized, as is the Colorado River, our country had no objection to receiving these waters the same as the other American users of the lower portion of the Colorado River, as long as they were of good quality for irrigation. Information Bulletin #l8 -l6- January 12, 1962 ,~ .,. ~