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Wednesday, August 1, 2001
Mexico's target date for water payment passes
Mexico officials say it could take until September
By Lynn Brezosky
Associated Press
   HARLINGEN - The way farmers here see it, Mexico is holding out, refusing to get its finger out of the dam. So anyone standing by the high banks of the Rio Grande on Tuesday, waiting for water to come roaring down, was waiting in vain.
   Tuesday was a target date for Mexico to make its water debt payment for 2001, according to a March pact reached by Presidents Bush and Vicente Fox.
   No new water in sight
   There was no new water in sight Tuesday. Mexico officials say it could be September before the remaining water is released.
   The pact gives Mexico extra months in case of persistent dry weather, which has been the case, said Sally Spener of the International Boundary and Water Commission.
   Spener said it had become clear the remainder of the water wouldn't be delivered Tuesday.
   Officials from Mexico's embassy in Washington, D.C., had no immediate comment.
   Both sides of the Rio Grande are suffering from what now vies for the title of worst drought on record, and farmers say it's time for the United States to get tough.
   "There is some water there that they could release, there's rivers like the Rio Conchos that they could release, there's dams on those rivers," said Jo Jo White, manager of Hidalgo and Cameron County Water District No. 9. "The bottom line is our government has not put enough pressure on Mexico City to force the issue. That's the sad thing.
   "This is a critical dilemma. It's going to set the precedent for the future of the Rio Grande Valley. We have to have the water that is generated by this treaty if we're going to survive."
   Sharing the river
   Since 1944, the United States and Mexico have shared water from the river that marks much of their international boundary, abiding by a treaty that runs on five-year cycles to accommodate the ebb and flow of water stores.
   Since 1992, Mexico has continually fallen behind on its commitment and owes 1.3 million acre-feet. An acre-foot, about 326,000 gallons, can meet the annual water needs of one to two U.S. households.
   Half amount is released
   Under an agreement signed in March, Mexico is to gradually pay back that water with 600,000 acre-feet due by October this year and every year until the debt is paid.
   Engineers calculated the yearly debt could be paid by July 31.
   So far, Mexico has released about half that amount from dams upriver near El Paso.
   Meetings are under way, Spener said, but that's no consolation to farmers in South Texas' Rio Grande Valley, who say they lost much of their summer crop and will lose their fall crop without the water.
   "We need to have that water right now, to be diverting for citrus and sugar," White said. "We have a lot of growers now that are out of water."
   Jimmy Steidinger, 60, who farms 175 acres in Hidalgo County, says he's already torn up some of his orange trees for the fall planting and brought in a meager cotton crop. He spaces his watering to once every 24 days instead of every 18 days.
   During the past two years he has scoured the local water market, buying water rights from property owners who live part-time in Texas and don't farm. But few opportunities exist there, and the price is $40 now for what might have cost $10 before.
   "If we don't get any water this fall, we're going to be completely out I think come the first of the year," he said. "Two things you always worry about - the market and the weather. Now there's a third problem, the water problem. . . . Water's like money in the bank. If you don't have water, you can't raise citrus. Without water I'm dead."
   Texas depends on river
   Texas is a big citrus state, and 85 percent of the oranges and grapefruits come from Hidalgo county - $110 million to $115 million annually.
   Citrus rotates with cotton and grain, making agriculture a major contributor to the local economy. Of the county's 1 million acres of farm land, 400,000 depend on Rio Grande water.
   Texas Gov. Rick Perry has shared correspondence with Mexican officials on the matter.
   "Our concern is given the time period and the amount of water that's still left, it will take an extraordinary effort by Mexico to meet that water requirement," Texas Assistant Secretary of State Geoff Connor said.
   "We feel sure than Mexico will honor its legal obligation, but we're looking for reassurances from the Mexican government about their time table and specific plans."
   Farmers are looking to Washington.
   "It's up to the president of the United States to do something," Steidinger said.

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