USA MEXICO DECLARATION:The U.S. authorities acknowledged the growing national and international focus on the Colorado River as a result of the ongoing historic drought in the basin. The U.S. authorities also noted recent innovative agreements among the seven U.S. states that rely on the Colorado River.
The authorities from both nations expressed their interest in order to reinforce bilateral cooperation regarding issues related to the lower portion of the Colorado River; acknowledged areas of concern regarding water conservation actions, while highlighting emerging innovative and comprehensive concepts that could be used to benefit water users in both the U.S. and Mexico.
In that regard, authorities from both nations agreed that the IBWC, a treaty-based bilateral organization with over a century of successful collaboration, should be utilized to expedite discussions in coming weeks to further Colorado River cooperation. Among the issues expected to be addressed are:
continued needs of both nations for water for urban, agricultural and environmental purposes, the study of the hydrological system and potential impacts of climate change, including the effects of the ongoing historic Colorado River drought;
environmental priorities, including Colorado River Delta habitat protection and enhancement;
opportunities for water conservation, storage and supply augmentation, such as seawater desalination and reuse; strategies aimed to ease variations in the Colorado River system;
potential opportunities for more efficient Colorado River water deliveries to Mexico.
3 comments:
I find it interesting that three of the canals that branch off from the All-American canal feed into the Salton Sea. The mention of desalination is also interesting.
You were right, California is about a generation or two behind Israel.
The Salton Sea did not existe a century ago. It is a man made disaster.
I remember reading on wiki that the cost of desalinated water globally has dropped to a little over $1/m3. We could simply pay the Mexicans around half that for the water and agree to build several desalination plants near cities in the state of Sonora. We would cover part of the cost of each m3, with the rest being supplied by the customers.
Water would flow to Sonora's cities, and not to the farmers, which is what happens in the US.
Of course, Mexico would be free to reject such a deal, I wouldn't force them on it.
Maybe there are other solutions.
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