Water is not given to push the United States. A bilateral agreement

The 1944 Water Treaty, which has been martyred in recent days, is a tool for Mexican states that suffer from bilateral cooperation, which determines the legal basis for the distribution of the main currents of the rivers of Bravo and Colorado, where common tributaries cross the borders of both countries.

The agreement signed on February 3, 1944 is a tool for the International Border and Water Committee (CILA), which Mexico helps two thirds of the surface water of Bravo and leads to its remaining neighbor, which is equivalent to two thousand 158 million cubic meters of water in five sessions.

In contrast, the United States offers 1850 million cubic meters of water to Mexico a year, from the Colorado River, a commitment that has always been achieved in time.

In the current five period of the 36th session, which is transferred from October 10, 2020 to October 24, 2025, the Mexican government was late as it had not previously happened in sending water to Texas, which has the rights to appeal from the United States.

Until April 19, 2025, in the last year of the session, Mexico received only 700 million cubic meters of water, which covers only 32.42 % of the debts, which was born new tension in bilateral relations, to the point that the President of the United States, Donald Trump threatened to amendments to our country in the event of non -compliance with water treatment of 1944.

On his social network, the American president accused the only sugar mill in Texas had to close its doors, “because Mexico was stealing water to farmers in Texas.”

“This is now certain that Mexico does not violate our treaties or harm our farms in Texas. (…) We will continue to intensify the consequences, including definitions, and possibly sanctions, until Mexico corresponds to the treaty and gives Texas the corresponding water,” he wrote.

In response, the Mexico government announced a few days ago that between May and October 2025, it will be sent to the United States from 400 to 518 million cubic meters of water, “to continue compliance with the obligations granted in the water treaty.”

The Mexican authorities said: “The size to be set in this range depends on the amount of water that can be arranged, as soon as the rainy period begins.”

They have advanced that the sources from which the water will be extracted are: international friendship, in Coahuila; Six tributaries from Rio Bravo (Aroyu Las Fakas, San Diego, San Rodrigo, Rio Eskondido and Rio Salado); Rio San Juan, in Tamolibas (in an extraordinary way) and Louis L. Lyon, the barn, in Chihuahua.

The government added that at all times, Mexico obtained the water folders required to ensure the entire human consumption and the completion of the agricultural cycle, even in one stage with a decrease in rain.

The 518 million cubic meters will serve Mexico to deliver in the coming months to the United States to fill the Cutzamala system to 66.19 % of its capacity, which reaches more or less to save 13 months of water, and 25 % of the population of Mexico and Mexico.

Historical deficit

With what he promised, our country will close the 36th session, with a total delivery of up to 218 million cubic meters, in the best condition, still away from two thousand 158.6 million cubic meters of water, that is, it will maintain a debt of 43.57 % or 940 million cubic meters of water.

“On this occasion, the deficit will be historical for the quantity, and by size, it will be historical for the current bilateral relationship, and that will be a date because it is the first time that an American president has referred to Mexico in the United States,” said Rosario Sanchez, an international expert on the issue of the United States.

In an interview with joineryThe doctor in water and hydrological science management warned that this is the third time that our country has fallen into deficit, and not in non-compliance-because it is in the 25th session (1992-1997), leaving the debts of 58 %, which was covered in the next five years.

He explained that the second deficit of 15.04 % occurred in the 34th session (2010-2015), and the Mexican government prompted what was worthy at the end of the next five years, a alternative that includes the 1944 Waters Treaty.

As a member of the Institute of Water Resources at the University of Texas A and M.

“The deficit that has been collected in the current session, in these past five years (67.58 %) is the highest in history, with an ideal bilateral relationship, with leadership, especially in the United States, which is not the best for cooperation, negotiation and work together, it is a crisis that does not occur in the best possible political situations,” has warned.

Mismanagement

Mexican origin specialist Rosario Sanchez confirmed, although although prolonged drought, high temperatures and climate change struck the provision of water to the Bravo River, in order to fulfill international obligations, 80 % of what we live is a problem in water management and management.

“It is not necessarily a problem with the current management, it is something that has been withdrawn since the 1980s, at least. The problem of water management in Mexico is a problem with the ancestors that have not been given priority, there is no investment or financing.

Searching in the basin is limited, such as models that we have to use for planning; So that the monitoring is not controlled or updated, and the application of the rule of law is not visible, as it is not real. “

Author A clear history of the common water between Mexico and the United States: chronic and informal rest on our relationship with water He pointed out that forward, we can reach an agreement to reduce the transmission of the Rio Bravo resource, as our neighbor did in 2017, in the case of the Colorado River.

He pointed out that, according to what was negotiated in Law 323, the amounts allocated to Mexico by the United States are now dependent on the availability of water in Lake Meed, meaning that the levels of this artificial tank connected to the Colorado River set the amount that will be delivered annually to our country.

On average, shipments to Mexico decreased 400 million cubic meters annually, or about 20 percent in relation to 1850 million cubic meters in the water treaty in 1944.

Dr. Rosario Sanchez, director of the Permanent Forum for Binary Water, considered that our country can require in the same way to reduce shipments in the case of Rio Bravo, but with the high political cost, negotiations and commitment, “because this definitely means providing annual amounts and not Kinecal, which is always overlooked by Mexico the return.”

He said: “The commitment that Mexico must obtain before a possible decrease in tasks is that the annual delivery processes of fixed water be, but in order for Mexico to commit to that, the entire internal government must change, so we do not know that it is worse, borrows and is due to water or repairing the entire national water problem.”

Apparently, the Mexican government realizes that there are currently no conditions for changing the rules of the game, because in a press statement dated April 29, he stressed that at the last meeting with his counterpart in the United States, he agreed that the 1944 Water Treaty “is not subject to review.”