U.S. suspects Mexico hoarding water

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Posted 11:23AM on Friday, May 3, 2002

CIUDAD DELICIAS, MEXICO - Normally, Eduardo Melendez's healthy pecan trees and thick carpet of vibrant green alfalfa would draw admiration. But this year, fields such as his in the drought-stricken Mexican state of Chihuahua are raising angry suspicions in a bitter fight for Rio Grande water that threatens relations between the United States and Mexico. U.S. officials say that under a 1944 treaty, Mexico owes Texas farmers 1.5 million acre-feet of water. Each acre-foot is enough to cover one acre of land with one foot of water, an amount equivalent to 326,000 gallons. The treaty gives Mexico a larger quantity of water, but via the Colorado River far to the west. Mexico says that because of drought, it doesn't have the water to pay the growing debt here. But South Texas farmers and even Mexican farmers in the neighboring state of Tamaulipas accuse Chihuahua growers of ignoring the treaty. Texas farmers were to meet with U.S. legislators Friday in Brownsville, Texas to show them dying fields and urge Congress to stall legislation sought by Mexico, such as agreements on immigration, until the matter is resolved. Outside the city of Delicias, verdant fields contrast with the stark, brown mountains. Waist-high wheat waves in the breeze and alfalfa blankets fields near lush pecan orchards. The fields are fed by metal tubes carrying water from canals. Delicias is near the Rio Conchos, the main tributary feeding the Rio Grande. A study by Texas A & M University reported that Chihuahua farms have expanded even as Mexico reneged on water payments. Texas farmers say the water shortage has cost them an estimated $1 billion so far. The study found Chihuahua's production of thirsty crops like corn and alfalfa jumped more than 60 percent between the drought years of 1995 and 1999. ``We were really shocked,'' said Parr Rosson, who headed the study. Rosson said Chihuahua's water use rose to 2.3 million acre feet from 1.2 million between 1980 and 1997, though it dropped to 1.6 million in 1999. Since the study ended, corn acreage increased by another 25 percent and that of alfalfa by 11 percent, he said. A Chihuahua state agriculture official, Jesus Dominguez, disputed the claims, saying, ``That's false. They have to show proof.'' He said a formal response had to come from Mexico's foreign relations department in Mexico city. Earlier this week, the department issued a statement by legal adviser Alberto Szekely insisting that Mexico was trying to meet its obligations. ``We would be complying if we have water, if there had not been an extraordinary drought,'' he said. ``It cannot be said that we are not complying, because it is materially impossible at the moment to comply with the treaty.'' But he admitted that Mexico needed ``a much wiser, very much more intelligent use'' of water than in the past. Chihuahua growers say falling prices for drought-resistant crops left them no choice but to turn to more thirsty fields. ``There was no way out other than by planting alfalfa,'' Melendez said. Farmers here say they are hurting too. The area's reservoirs are at less than 25 percent capacity. ``The water levels have dropped so low that cars and bodies started appearing,'' agricultural engineer Humberto Estrada said. ``They found the body of a mayor who was missing. All kinds of things at the bottom of the dam have started appearing over the past few years.'' Many farmers have drilled wells to tap groundwater to support the thirstier, high-value crops. Chihuahua has huge lakes hundreds of feet underground. Those wells, however, could also be lowering the levels of the Rio Conchos, which flows over the underground lakes, according to Rosson. ``It's a slow process, but pumping and pumping over time could be causing less flow down to the Rio Grande,'' Rosson said. Rosson agrees that Mexico doesn't have the water to pay, but he said Texas would like to see gestures of good faith, such as investment in more efficient irrigation systems. Melendez's farm uses individual sprinklers to water each pecan tree, ensuring that the water gets to the roots. But most growers continue to use the least-expensive method: flooding fields, losing large amounts of water to evaporation. Texas farmers say Mexico must drastically reduce the water supply for Chihuahua farmers. ``Why should they have the water and not us, when they're using water that's illegal? That water belongs to somebody else, not them,'' said Jo Jo White, irrigation manager in Mercedes, Texas. ``We've suffered a hardship for seven years because of this illegal act. ... Now it's time to teach them a hard and bitter lesson.''