WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Department of State said on Thursday that the United States will for the first time deny a non-treaty request by Mexico for a special delivery channel for Colorado River water to be delivered to Tijuana.
“Mexico’s continued shortfalls in its water deliveries under the 1944 water-sharing treaty are decimating American agriculture – particularly farmers in the Rio Grande valley,” the department’s Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs said in a post on X.
Under a 1944 treaty, Mexico is required to transfer water to the United States every five years from the two dams the countries share on the Texas border.
Although Mexico’s foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the denial, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum on Thursday described the issue as an important one that is being addressed.
“It is being addressed by (national water agency) Conagua and CILA (International Boundary and Water Commission), which is in charge of reviewing this treaty,” Sheinbaum said in comment before the State Department’s announcement.
(Reporting by Jasper Ward; Additional reporting by Raul Cortes Fernandez in Mexico City; Editing by Caitlin Webber)
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