Texas-Mexico water war boils over

www.msnbc.com/ ^ | March 22 2002 | pmsmbc

[ATOMIC_PUNK]

Texas-Mexico water war boils over

Dispute raised during Bush trip — and on World Water Day

A water war between Texas and Mexico has Texans boiling mad, and they’re hoping their former governor, President Bush, can do something about it during his talks this week with Mexican President Vicente Fox. The water dispute is just one of many around the globe — a worrisome trend highlighted by U.N. statements and a report issued Friday, which the United Nations has designated World Water Day.

THE U.S. BORDER dispute stems from a 1944 water treaty in which Mexico agreed to allow 350,000 acre-feet of water to flow annually from Mexican streams and tributaries into the Rio Grande River for use by farmers in south Texas.
       Mexico has defaulted on the accord, using the water to help ease its own drought in its northern states. The U.S. neighbor now owes 473 million gallons and Texas Gov. Rick Perry, whose own state has been hard hit by drought, wants the water now.
       “We have lost a billion dollars in economic activity because of Mexico’s failure to deliver promised water,” Perry told a water rally last Wednesday on parched south Texas farmland. “We have lost more than a half-million acres of irrigated crops because of Mexico’s failure to deliver promised water. And many of our farm families have lost hope.”  Perry, a Republican running for re-election, suggested his patience was running out. “I will continue to talk with anyone who will listen,” he said, “but it’s about time to stop the talking and get the water flowing.”
       
EARLIER BUSH-FOX DEAL
       A spokesman for Perry said Friday that the governor raised the issue with Bush during his brief Texas stopover before heading to Mexico this week.
       Perry’s spokesman, Gene Acuna, said Texas officials would be in contact with the Bush administration to find out what, if anything, was resolved. Acuna noted that Bush and Fox signed an agreement last March to restore the water supply “but that has not occurred.”
       Still, said Acuna, “the governor certainly remains optimistic.”
       Under the treaty, in exchange for water from Mexico, the United States agreed to divert five times that amount out of the Colorado River and into Mexico each year.
       While Mexico first defaulted in 1992, the United States has kept its side of the treaty.
       The south Texas fruit belt — 750,000 acres of citrus, melons, cotton, sugar cane and other crops — has been plagued by a drought so severe that some farmers have had to burn parts of their citrus groves.
       
WATER ISSUES WORLDWIDE
       The U.S.-Mexico water treaty is one of dozens among nations worldwide — and not the only one that has led to disputes.
       An Oregon State University database counts 150 international water treaties as well as 39 accords between U.S. states. The database is online at terra.geo.orst.edu/users/tfdd.
       In a statement marking World Water Day, U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan warned that “fierce national competition over water resources has prompted fears that water issues contain the seeds of violent conflict.”
       The head of the U.N. Environment Program, Klaus Toepfer, said the key to “peace and stability” is developing “legal frameworks for the equitable sharing of water resources.”
       Toepfer said developed countries in particular should increase the price of water to encourage conservation.
       “Water-pricing needs to be revised to reflect the true cost of the resource, taking account of the economic, social and environmental value of water,” he said in a statement. “Such a policy will encourage more efficient use, and discourage waste.”
       “Pricing policy should of course take account of the limited finances of the poor,” he added. “At present the poorest pay most for clean water, both in monetary terms, and in terms of the burden to their health.” SAVING LIVES
       A U.N. report issued Friday said that lives could be at stake if water issues aren’t resolved. It estimated that:
1.1 billion people have no access to safe drinking water.
2.5 billion people lack proper sanitation.
More than 5 million people die from waterborne diseases each year — 10 times the number of casualties killed in wars around the globe.
It also projected that more than 2.7 billion people will face severe shortages of fresh water by 2025 if the world keeps consuming water at today’s rates.
       Some 5 billion people worldwide will find it difficult or impossible to meet all their needs for fresh water, the report said, creating “a looming crisis that overshadows nearly two-thirds of the Earth’s population,” the report said.
       

[survivalforum.com]

This is really something.

The Bush administration appears to be really caving into Fox over there even though they are walking all over us

To top it off...I have collected many news articles about the major drought problems in this country. (over 50% of the country faces historical drought problems by summer)

I posted many of the articles here:
MANY Water / Drought related articles

Franklin

[okie01]

"The Bush administration appears to be really caving into Fox over there even though they are walking all over us..."

There is no mention of this in the article. Your source for this assertion, then, is...what???

[Rubber Ducky]

How about for every acre-foot of water they hold back, we send ten illegals back?

[lurkeylou]

A water war between Texas and Mexico has Texans boiling mad, and they’re hoping their former governor, President Bush, can do something about it

Oh right, the same Bush that refused American's water to American farmers is going to do something about Mexican water for American farmers.

[17th Miss Regt]

If we do that then that will get rid of about half the illegal aliens from Mexico. Pick a higher number.

[usadave]

Mexico has defaulted on the accord, using the water to help ease its own drought in its northern states.

What, Mexico can't be trusted? Not exactly unprecedented is it?

[ATOMIC_PUNK]

How about for every acre-foot of water they hold back, we send 50 illegals back!

[ATOMIC_PUNK]

YOU got a damn good point there!!!

[Ben Ficklin]

It should be mentioned that New Mexico also owes water to Texas.

[wcbtinman]

"...it's about time to stop the talking and get the water flowing."Texas gov. Rick Perry

When I said essentially the same thing about the Klamath water situation, I was called a dangerous radical, among other not so nice things.

Someday even the govt will come to understand that it is it's own worst enemy.

[Tex_GOP_Cruz]

Perry, a Republican running for re-election, suggested his patience was running out.

I'm glad that Perry is standing up for the people of south Texas. My uncle is a rancher in that area, and the water supply there is truly scarce. The Mexicans must abide by the treaty; that is reason enough to push for compliance. However, if Perry is joining the fight for solely political purposes, then -- call me a bit cynical -- but it won't be worth too much for him. Tony Sanchez is from Laredo, which will make the Democratic margins and turnout even higher in south Texas in November. Just look how many people voted in last week's Republican primary in some South Texas counties: Starr County - 5 out of 26,529 registered, Brooks County - 4 out of 6,652, Jim Hogg County - 6 out of 4,366, Willacy County - 16 out of 10,775! (Granted, there were probably no local contests in these counties, but still...)

[Buckeroo]

1 acre-foot = 325,851 gallons, therefore .... 350,000 acre-feet of agreed upon water X 325,851 gallons/acre-foot = 114,047,850,000 gallons ~ 114 billion gallons a year.

The article suggests 473 million gallons is lost from the agreement. This is 1/241 parts of water lost to Texas from the agreement.

BIG_DEAL!

[The South Texan]

As life long resident of south Texas, the one thing I learned real early in life is to never,ever trust Mexico Their law enforcement is corrupt as well as their local governments. Despite Fox's efforts to get rid of some of it,the corruption is a cncer that has to cut out , not just treated. And one those GOP voting margins in south Texas. You got to remember in those counties south of Corpus that most of the local elections are decided in the Rat primary. That is changing slowly, but it will take some time. Most Republicans that I know down ther vot in the Rat primary for the local races and pick the weeker candidates in state and federal races. i almost did the same thing this year, but I just could not bear to see "Democrat" stamped on my voter registration card.

[hedgetrimmer]

You know in Santa Cruz county we started collecting taxes for a reservoir in 1958. Once the money was collected, the environmentalists shut the project down with a PHONY endangered species report. County residents are out millions of dollars and the supervisors are talking about buying bag water or building a desalinization plant (which of course the environmentalists will shut down because it would be on a MARINE SANCTUARY, don't you know). Traitors in our governemnt are MANUFACTURING the water crisis so the UN can take over controll of the water and give the responsibility for managing the water supply to multinationals like MONSANTO. Mark my words, WATER IS THE NEXT CRISIS for America.

Citizen tags Santa Cruz board for implementing UN Agenda 21 water policies
Babbitt will join water-use developer
Monsanto Moves to Control Water Resources & Fish Farming in India & the Third World
Private industry's gold rush on for water rights

[Joe Hadenuf]

“We have lost a billion dollars in economic activity because of Mexico’s failure to deliver promised water,” Perry told a water rally last Wednesday on parched south Texas farmland.

BIG_DEAL!

So this guy, the Texas governor is lying? If so, that's one hell of a lie!

[hedgetrimmer]

Water: Crisis or Opportunities? The choice is yours

Access to Water: A fundamental Human Right - Water: a Public Property

[Buckeroo]

I like to discuss issues from a factual side. From the article: THE U.S. BORDER dispute stems from a 1944 water treaty in which Mexico agreed to allow 350,000 acre-feet of water to flow annually from Mexican streams and tributaries into the Rio Grande River for use by farmers in south Texas.

Mexico has defaulted on the accord, using the water to help ease its own drought in its northern states. The U.S. neighbor now owes 473 million gallons ......"

The equation is there, you just have to figure it out.

[zog]

--water is THE critical human resource. We like to talk about oil a lot, but take away water, and even oil becomes useless. You can't make anything really without water, you can't grown any food without water. The next decade will see actual wars over it. I think one of the first places will be in the middle east. In the israel/lebanon/jordan areas, there just slap ain't enough water for all the humans there now, it's running out fast. Lot of other areas as well. It gets spooky when there's a drought. And the UN and the government will be right there to help it along, wait until they start slapping a meter on everyone's wells around the country.

This deal in texas, seems like we could just give the colorado river water to the texans, let the mexicans keep the rio grande water. Need some pipelines, but so what? It's doable, and the sooner the better. Bet a nickle that the texans know more than a little bit about building good pipeline systems.

Ya, I know, wishful thinking, mexico will win this one too, because it's the unofficial/official policy of the US now that these countries will be merging.