1-1 By: Oliveira (Senate Sponsor - Lucio) H.C.R. No. 88 1-2 (In the Senate - Received from the House March 22, 2001; 1-3 March 26, 2001, read first time and referred to Committee on 1-4 Natural Resources; May 7, 2001, reported favorably by the following 1-5 vote: Yeas 4, Nays 0; May 7, 2001, sent to printer.) 1-6 HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 1-7 WHEREAS, International allocation of water from the Rio 1-8 Grande, known in Mexico as the Rio Bravo, is governed by two 1-9 treaties completed in 1906 and 1944 between the United States and 1-10 its southern neighbor, Mexico; and 1-11 WHEREAS, The 1906 treaty, which covers the Rio Grande/Rio 1-12 Bravo from its headwaters in Colorado to Fort Quitman, allocates to 1-13 Mexico an annual share of runoff from the upper portion of the 1-14 river basin in the United States; to meet that obligation, the 1-15 United States at its expense undertook storage and diversion works 1-16 including the Elephant Butte Dam in New Mexico through which 1-17 Mexico's water is delivered; and 1-18 WHEREAS, The 1944 treaty, which covers the Rio Grande/Rio 1-19 Bravo from Fort Quitman to the Gulf of Mexico, governs the 1-20 management of two separate watercourses: the Colorado River, which 1-21 enters Mexico from the Arizona-California border, and the Tijuana 1-22 River, which originates in the Sierra Juarez in Baja California and 1-23 enters the United States just south of San Diego; and 1-24 WHEREAS, Responsibility for the administration of the 1944 1-25 treaty is vested with the International Boundary and Water 1-26 Commission (IBWC), known in Mexico as the Comision Internacional de 1-27 Limites y Agua (CILA), a binational agency with a commissioner and 1-28 staff sections representing each of the two nations, headquartered 1-29 in El Paso and Ciudad Juarez; and 1-30 WHEREAS, The commission constructed the Falcon and Amistad 1-31 reservoirs, completed in 1954 and 1968, respectively, and the 1-32 American and Mexican sections jointly operate and release water 1-33 from those reservoirs and handle the accounting of the Rio 1-34 Grande/Rio Bravo water shares to which each of the participant 1-35 nations are entitled; and 1-36 WHEREAS, Of present concern to the Texas Legislature is 1-37 Article 4 of the 1944 treaty, which among its allocative provisions 1-38 apportions to the United States one-third of the flow reaching the 1-39 main channel of the Rio Grande/Rio Bravo from six Mexican tributary 1-40 basins, or a minimum from those basins of not less than an annual 1-41 350,000 acre-feet averaged over a cycle of five consecutive years; 1-42 and 1-43 WHEREAS, The six tributaries include principally the Rio 1-44 Conchos and Rio Salado, along with lesser hydrological systems 1-45 consisting of the San Diego, San Rodrigo, and Escondido rivers and 1-46 Las Vacas Arroyo; and 1-47 WHEREAS, Article 4 provides that a five-year accounting 1-48 period begins whenever the Amistad and Falcon reservoirs are at 1-49 capacity, and states that in the event of extraordinary drought, 1-50 any deficit existing at the end of the five years shall be repaid 1-51 from the water of the tributaries over an ensuing period of another 1-52 five years, or until the reservoirs refill and the debt is 1-53 nullified; and 1-54 WHEREAS, An accounting cycle began in early October 1992, 1-55 when Amistad and Falcon reservoirs last reached capacity, and over 1-56 the next half decade, when minimum Mexican deliveries under the 1-57 treaty should have totaled 1,750,000 acre-feet for the five years, 1-58 actual deliveries were only 726,000 acre-feet, for a deficit of 1-59 1,024,000 acre-feet; and 1-60 WHEREAS, The third year of what is supposed to be a five-year 1-61 repayment period concluded in October 2000, and not only has Mexico 1-62 not yet retired the preceding shortfall, but the 1992-1997 deficit 1-63 has grown to 1,409,000 acre-feet, and full repayment by October 1-64 2002 is consequently in jeopardy; and 2-1 WHEREAS, The United States is in compliance with the 1906 2-2 treaty, and is in compliance with the Colorado River and Tijuana 2-3 River provisions of the 1944 treaty, but expects reciprocity and a 2-4 like commitment to make the treaties work as signed and agreed to; 2-5 now, therefore, be it 2-6 RESOLVED, That the 77th Legislature of the State of Texas 2-7 hereby request the International Boundary and Water Commission, 2-8 also known as the Comision Internacional de Limites y Agua, to 2-9 assure that Mexico meet its Article 4 delivery obligations under 2-10 the 1944 treaty governing the sharing of waters from the Rio 2-11 Grande/Rio Bravo basin; and, be it further 2-12 RESOLVED, That the Texas secretary of state forward a copy of 2-13 this resolution to the United States and Mexican sections of that 2-14 commission, and provide copies also to the Texas Water Development 2-15 Board, to the Region M water planning group, and to the Texas 2-16 Natural Resource Conservation Commission to the attention of the 2-17 Texas watermaster for this state's lower Rio Grande water rights. 2-18 * * * * *