Monday, August 20, 2007

Domestic Water Needs and the U.S.-Mexico Treaty

By Barnard R. Thompson

With respect to water and United States-Mexico relations, as well as each country’s present and future needs for the precious liquid, almost everyone can find parables in the nursery rhyme,

Jack and Jill went up the hill,
To fetch a pail of water;
Jack fell down and broke his crown,
And Jill came tumbling after.

For one, a U.S. Ambassador to Mexico once told this observer that the most volatile and divisive bilateral issue the two nations would face in this 21st century, over and above problems such as illegal immigration, drug trafficking or border security, would quite probably relate to water.

Last week the annual convention of Mexico’s National Association of Water and Drainage Sanitation Firms (ANEAS) was held in Cancun, and President Felipe Calderón gave a major policy speech on water and wastewater related matters.  Important to the degree that excerpts from the speech are translated below.

Another of the speakers was Senator Silvano Aureoles Conejo (Party of the Democratic Revolution, Michoacán), who chairs the Mexican Senate’s Water Resources Committee.  And Aureoles, speaking on behalf of the Senate committee, is calling for the U.S.-Mexico Water Treaty of 1944 to be modified in order to guarantee a fair and balanced distribution of Colorado River, Rio Grande, and tributary waters.

Furthermore, Aureoles said that a Senate hearing will be held regarding Tamaulipas state growers’ complaints and charges that Mexican federal officials are colluding with the United States.  The claim by irrigation water users, according to Aureoles, is that “the Mexican government [is] supplying more water to the United States then the amount that corresponds to the treaty signed in 1944.”

The senator failed to mention that, in accordance with the treaty, Mexico still owes a large debt in Rio Grande connected water to the United States.  (A debt that should now be easier to pay, considering this summer’s rainfall in northeastern Mexico that has been topped off recently by Tropical Storm Erin.)

With respect to Colorado River water and the treaty, the state legislature in Baja California Sur is currently organizing a binational forum to discuss the many related issues.  The conference, on yet to be announced dates, has reportedly been agreed to by the Mexican and United States federal governments.  According to Mexico’s Secretariat of Foreign Relations, the forum is to be part of International Boundary and Water Commission talks, and it will include public and private sector invitees from Baja California, Baja California Sur, Arizona and California.  Interestingly, Sonora was not included on the list?

President Calderón spoke to the ANEAS gathering on August 14, more on national matters and demands than on international issues.

Noting that ANEAS professionals must work with federal, state and municipal officials, Calderón said that this is a fundamental role for all involved in order to provide Mexicans with their basic right of access to potable water at a just price for all concerned.  The President also said that the future of Mexico and its people depends on water resources and how they are handled.

“Water scarcity makes it another source of inequality,” Calderón said, and “while there are Mexicans who must walk to obtain clean water, or spend their limited resources so that a tank truck can bring them water, Mexico will not be able to aspire to be a developed country nor a fair country.”

And he said that the people of Mexico, for decades, have treated water irresponsibly.  He specified ground water, while noting too the pollution of lakes, rivers and the ocean.

“Mexico needs an annual investment of around [US$2.454 billion] in coming years in order to cover the potable water, sewage and waste water treatment needs,” Calderón said.

“As I know we need to work together [to accomplish our goals], I take great pleasure in sharing with all of you that my government is going to continue the Return of Fees Program.  This will allow the resources paid by agencies and service providers to the Federation to be reinvested in acts of improvement and construction of more potable water and drainage infrastructure.  This program’s reach is going to be extended, specifically in the building of wastewater treatment plants,” he said.

“We are going to make an instrument of payment into a source of financing, with a multiplier effect of investment.”

As well, President Calderón mentioned that water works, drainage and sewage treatment facilities are also incorporated in both the National Development Plan 2007-2012, and the recently announced National Infrastructure Plan.

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Barnard Thompson, editor of MexiData.info, has spent nearly 50 years in Mexico and Latin America, providing multinational clients with actionable intelligence; country and political risk reporting and analysis; and business, lobbying, and problem resolution services.  He can be reached via e-mail at mexidata@ix.netcom.com.