WSP05037 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

OU2335 . . " Mr. Ramirez is a civil engineer and the current mayor of EI Paso, Texas. He could assume this responsibility in as early as two to three weeks. Mexican Water Treaty - Rio Grande River Included in the Board folder, for your information, is an Associated Press article, dated March 19th, announcing that the United States and Mexico had reached agreement on a repayment schedule for water from the Rio Grande that Mexico had withheld from delivery to the United States. Mexico is obligated to release to the Rio Grande not less than 350,000 acre-feet per year from six tributaries in Mexico. As of October 1997, Mexico owed water users in the United States approximately 1,424,000 acre-feet of water. This debt resulted from increased water use by Mexico that started when the North American Free Trade Agreement prompted a boom in Mexican agriculture and industry. According to the agreement, Mexico will deliver approximately 614,000 acre-feet of the defIcit to the United States this year. California's Colorado River Water Use Plan Quant({ication Settlement Agreement Reclamation has alUJOunced its intent to prepare an environmental impact statement (ElS) for those activities that will allow the Secretary of the Interior to execute the Secretarial Implementation Agreement (SIA) associated with the Quantification Settlement Agreement (QSA) among the California parties to quantify and administer their water entitlements. This EIS will describe and evaluate the potential environmental impacts along the mainstem of the Colorado River associated with the Secretary's administration and delivery of water in accordance with the QSA, the change in point of diversion of up to 400,000 acre-feet of water, implementation of Reclamation's proposed Inadvertent Overrun and Payback Policy, and implementation of conservation measures related to California's water transfers. Comments on the scope of the EIS are to be received by Reclamation by April 10, 2001. ' '. Sallon Sea Habilal Enhancemelll I Included in the Board folder is ajoint letter from Coachella Valley Water District, Imperial Irrigation District, The Metropolitan Water District of Souther California, and San Diego County Water Authority requesting that $60 million for environmental enhancement on the Salton Sea, and $53 million for water management reservoirs near the All-American Canal be included in the President's 2002 Budget. This letter to the Secretary of the Interior, Gale Norton, indicates that this level offunding is needed to ensure the success and timely implementation ofCalifomia's Colorado River Water Use Plan. Since sending this letter to Secretary Norton, letters requesting funding for these projects have been sent to members of Congress and Appropriations Committees. Basin States/Ten Tribes Discussion Meeting of the Representatives from the Seven Basin States Representatives from the seven Basin States met on April 5, 2001. During the meeting, 3