By Oliveira H.C.R. No. 88
77R1396 CCK-D
HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
1-1 WHEREAS, International allocation of water from the Rio
1-2 Grande, known in Mexico as the Rio Bravo, is governed by two
1-3 treaties completed in 1906 and 1944 between the United States and
1-4 its southern neighbor, Mexico; and
1-5 WHEREAS, The 1906 treaty, which covers the Rio Grande/Rio
1-6 Bravo from its headwaters in Colorado to Fort Quitman, allocates to
1-7 Mexico an annual share of runoff from the upper portion of the
1-8 river basin in the United States; to meet that obligation, the
1-9 United States at its expense undertook storage and diversion works
1-10 including the Elephant Butte Dam in New Mexico through which
1-11 Mexico's water is delivered; and
1-12 WHEREAS, The 1944 treaty, which covers the Rio Grande/Rio
1-13 Bravo from Fort Quitman to the Gulf of Mexico, governs the
1-14 management of two separate watercourses: the Colorado River, which
1-15 enters Mexico from the Arizona-California border, and the Tijuana
1-16 River, which originates in the Sierra Juarez in Baja California and
1-17 enters the United States just south of San Diego; and
1-18 WHEREAS, Responsibility for the administration of the 1944
1-19 treaty is vested with the International Boundary and Water
1-20 Commission (IBWC), known in Mexico as the Comision Internacional de
1-21 Limites y Agua (CILA), a binational agency with a commissioner and
1-22 staff sections representing each of the two nations, headquartered
1-23 in El Paso and Ciudad Juarez; and
1-24 WHEREAS, The commission constructed the Falcon and Amistad
2-1 reservoirs, completed in 1954 and 1968, respectively, and the
2-2 American and Mexican sections jointly operate and release water
2-3 from those reservoirs and handle the accounting of the Rio
2-4 Grande/Rio Bravo water shares to which each of the participant
2-5 nations are entitled; and
2-6 WHEREAS, Of present concern to the Texas Legislature is
2-7 Article 4 of the 1944 treaty, which among its allocative provisions
2-8 apportions to the United States one-third of the flow reaching the
2-9 main channel of the Rio Grande/Rio Bravo from six Mexican tributary
2-10 basins, or a minimum from those basins of not less than an annual
2-11 350,000 acre-feet averaged over a cycle of five consecutive years;
2-12 and
2-13 WHEREAS, The six tributaries include principally the Rio
2-14 Conchos and Rio Salado, along with lesser hydrological systems
2-15 consisting of the San Diego, San Rodrigo, and Escondido rivers and
2-16 Las Vacas Arroyo; and
2-17 WHEREAS, Article 4 provides that a five-year accounting
2-18 period begins whenever the Amistad and Falcon reservoirs are at
2-19 capacity, and states that in the event of extraordinary drought,
2-20 any deficit existing at the end of the five years shall be repaid
2-21 from the water of the tributaries over an ensuing period of another
2-22 five years, or until the reservoirs refill and the debt is
2-23 nullified; and
2-24 WHEREAS, An accounting cycle began in early October 1992,
2-25 when Amistad and Falcon reservoirs last reached capacity, and over
2-26 the next half decade, when minimum Mexican deliveries under the
2-27 treaty should have totaled 1,750,000 acre-feet for the five years,
3-1 actual deliveries were only 726,000 acre-feet, for a deficit of
3-2 1,024,000 acre-feet; and
3-3 WHEREAS, The third year of what is supposed to be a five-year
3-4 repayment period concluded in October 2000, and not only has Mexico
3-5 not yet retired the preceding shortfall, but the 1992-1997 deficit
3-6 has grown to 1,409,000 acre-feet, and full repayment by October
3-7 2002 is consequently in jeopardy; and
3-8 WHEREAS, The United States is in compliance with the 1906
3-9 treaty, and is in compliance with the Colorado River and Tijuana
3-10 River provisions of the 1944 treaty, but expects reciprocity and a
3-11 like commitment to make the treaties work as signed and agreed to;
3-12 now, therefore, be it
3-13 RESOLVED, That the 77th Legislature of the State of Texas
3-14 hereby request the International Boundary and Water Commission,
3-15 also known as the Comision Internacional de Limites y Agua, to
3-16 assure that Mexico meet its Article 4 delivery obligations under
3-17 the 1944 treaty governing the sharing of waters from the Rio
3-18 Grande/Rio Bravo basin; and, be it further
3-19 RESOLVED, That the Texas secretary of state forward a copy of
3-20 this resolution to the United States and Mexican sections of that
3-21 commission, and provide copies also to the Texas Water Development
3-22 Board, to the Region M water planning group, and to the Texas
3-23 Natural Resource Conservation Commission to the attention of the
3-24 Texas watermaster for this state's lower Rio Grande water rights.