- WASHINGTON (AFP) -- The United
States on Wednesday accused Mexico of continuing to violate the terms of
a 58-year-old water sharing treaty and called on its southern neighbor
to deliver the more than 488 billion gallons (1.8 billion cubic meters)
it owes.
-
- Deputy State Department spokesman Phillip Reeker made
the accusation on the deadline of the most recent five-year accounting
cycle for the 1944 treaty under which the two countries are supposed to
share water from the Rio Grande, Colorado and Tijuana rivers.
-
- "Over the past 10 years, the government of Mexico
has not delivered sufficient volumes of water from the six Mexico tributaries
to the Rio Grande to ensure compliance with its obligations under this
treatment and related agreements," he said.
-
- "We're taking this opportunity again to urge Mexico
to address the outstanding water deficit ... and to adopt a regulatory
framework to ensure that the treaty obligations are afforded the highest
priority.
-
- "We think that meaningful and rapid steps by Mexico
toward these ends are essential to maintain a viable framework for managing
our trans-boundary waters."
-
- Reeker's comments followed the introduction of a bill
in the U.S. Congress noting that Mexico was in violation of the treaty
and demanding that action be taken to rectify the situation.
-
- The treaty gives Mexico the right to 1.8 billion cubic
meters (475 billion gallons) of Colorado River water flowing out of the
United States. It guarantees the United States rights to 432 million cubic
meters (114 billion gallons) of water from the Rio Grande, which forms
much of the border between the two countries.
-
- In June, U.S. and Mexican officials announced that they
had agreed on a schedule under which Mexico would pay back Rio Grande River
water it owes.
-
- Under the June agreement, Mexico was to have released
110 million cubic meters (29 billion gallons), or about six percent of
the total owed, that it held in reserve at its Falcon dam.
-
- It was not clear Wednesday whether Mexico had followed
through on that pledge.
-
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