J' RomnCalleros

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INTERDEPENDENT BORDER WATER SUPPLY ISSUESThe
Imperial and Mexicali Valleys

• J. Román-Calleros J. Ramírez-Hernández
• Agricultural Sciences Institute. UABC,
  México
• Engineering Institute. UABC, México
• Binational Water Management Planning
  Consideration of Opportunities, Costs, Benefits,
  and Unintended Consequences Secure and
  Sustainable Water in the Border Region by 2020
• May 6 - 8, 2002
• Rio Rico, Arizona

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Interdependence...

• A dependence that exists among elements of a
  population located in the same region that
  implies understanding and reciprocal
  cooperation.
•  
• Interdependence has been the essence of growth
  along the U.S.-Mexico border.

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Interdependence 154 years of binational
coexistence

• The Colorado River is the main source of
  water for a binational region consisting of seven
  states in the American Union and two states in
  the Mexican Republic.
• Although throughout the history of both
  countries, the growth of the two economies has
  been differentiated, this has not been a decisive
  factor in the intense relationship.

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• With no document forcing anyone toward
  interdependence, traditions, ways of life,
  languages, nationalities, services, tasks and an
  endless number of other elements are shared in
  the border region. New forms of symbiotic
  coexistence exist between the two countries that
  are so different in their essence.
• Amazingly, interest in the Colorado River waters
  began at the final part of its natural course,
  creating doubt among upstream users and
  influencing the future use of the river with the
  creation of new water rights downstream.

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  Mexicali Mexicali Tijuana
Tecate Data from Román, 2001
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• In the Southwestern U.S., intense population
  growth has caused a kind of uncontrolled water
  demand.
• In 1940, the Imperial Valley had 59,740
  inhabitants, 11,000 more than Mexicali.
• In the year 2000, Imperial Valley population
  increased to 142,361 inhabitants, with a growth
  rate, during 1990-2000, of 30.2 percent, compared
  to a global increase of 13.6 percent for the
  whole State of California.
• Data from the U.S. Census Bureau State and County
  QuickFacts.

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• Agriculture Water Use and Efficiency
• Imperial 202,500 ha 3,065 Mm3 1.4 billions
• Water Productivity 0.45 dlls/m3
• Water per Hectare 15,135 m3
• Mexicali 207,935 ha 2,550 Mm3 425 millions
• Water Productivity 0.16 dlls/m3
• Water per hectare 12,263 m3
• Ratio 2.71
• Includes 177 Mm3 of contaminated water in San
  Luis, and 700 Mm3 of aquifer water.

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Agriculture Water Efficiency Imperial/Mexicali
Efficiency on both sides is not the
best Imperial Valley - 60 percent Mexicali
Valley - 52 percent
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• Salton Sea
• The presence of the Salton Sea (SS) is ancestral.
  The temporary deviation of Colorado River water
  to the SS was the beginning of its recent
  history. Today, the SS constitutes the biggest
  inland lake in the State of California.
• 68 percent of the water that enters the SS comes
  from I.V. agriculture water drainage (IID), with
  high saline concentrations and high loads of
  organic matter. Boron and selenium
  concentrations, among others, are higher than the
  norm.

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• Salton Sea
• Intense deterioration of environmental quality of
  the SS caused thousands of birds to die during
  the first four months of 1998 (17,000 birds of 70
  different species). The U.S. Department of
  Interior and other institutions prepared a
• Draft Environmental Impact Statement/Environmental
  Impact Report (DEIS/EIR) on the SS in
  California.

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• The Salton Sea
• is a very important part of a region, inside of a
  larger, complex ecosystem that it is intimately
  linked to the Colorado River Delta and the upper
  Gulf of California.
• The restoration of the SS should be linked to all
  those parts of the ecosystem and must be seen as
  a UNIT.

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• Santa Clara Sludge
• The Wellton-Mohawk deviation channel to the Santa
  Clara Sludge was part of the solution to the
  Colorado River water salinity problem
  (1961-1977).
• An annual average of 160 Mm3 of polluted water
  delivers 720,000 metric tons of salts in SCS.
• In 1973, Minute 242 (IBWC) represented a
  convenient exit, framed in a sense of good
  neighborliness. Today, the perception of this
  agreement has changed. Again, both governments
  need to look for a new creative and good
  neighbor agreement.

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• All-American Canal
• The AAC is the main conduit for delivering water
  and energy to Coachella and Imperial Counties,
  with nine small cities, 142,000 inhabitants, and
  500,000 acres of agricultural lands.
• Over 38 km from its total longitude of 132 km,
  waters cross sand dunes with their high
  permeability which allows seepage, a very
  important water source for the Mexicali Valley
  aquifer.

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• All-American Canal
• In 1988, IID and MWDLA signed an agreement for
  selling 99,716 acre-feet annually to US at 28.00
  per acre-feet for a period of 55 years.
• The sold volume of water was determined based on
  probable estimates of savings by lining 38 km of
  the AAC.

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• Irrigation Modules
• A new form of water and land management was
  created with the National Water Law in 1992 and
  the NWL Regulation in 1994. Watershed councils
  began to be formed at the national level starting
  in 1992. The objective was to create irrigation
  districts, with 5.8 million hectares to be
  administered by users.
• CNA gives administration responsibility to
  users of irrigation districts because the
  districts were too expensive to manage.

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• Irrigation Modules
• An irrigation module is legally constituted as a
  civil association of agricultural growers. They
  give their water and land rights to the manager
  of the association, who administers the available
  resources for their partners benefit. Today, the
  Mexicali Valley has 22 irrigation modules.
• In Mexico, water rights are assigned directly to
  each producer.

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• Colorado River Surplus Water
• For many years, California has been diverting its
  normal 4.4 maf apportionment. Arizona is
  approaching its full use and apportionment and
  Nevada was expected to reach it by 2000.
• Adopting a new approach for the allotment of
  these surplus waters would seem reasonable unless
  the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation forgot Mexican
  users and the environment in the allotment. Both
  of them are also part of the lower basin of the
  Colorado River.

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Water Demand vs. Population Growth Today,
with the exception of the environment, all
Colorado River water users know the volume they
have the right to use. Communication and
respect between users and government represent
the guarantee that water in the future will
benefit everyone, even the environment.
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• Water Culture
• At the present time, the only viable solution is
  for all the water users of the Colorado River to
  use water rationally.
• This solution can be achieved through an intense
  culturization of the entire societys water
  use.
• We must learn new ways to use water and recycle
  in a universal way that all of us should respect
  and accept.

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• Decision makers should not think only in terms of
  exporting water from agricultural lands. They
  must think of searching for new ways for
  everyones rational water use in our binational
  society.