Thread: Clock ticking on border canal dispute

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/m...-1m4canal.html

Clock ticking to settle border canal dispute


By Sandra Dibble
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
June 4, 2006

ENSENADA – A sensitive water dispute on the California-Mexico border can be resolved, Mexican President Vicente Fox says, but government negotiators must be given the chance to work out the differences between the two countries.

In an interview last week, Fox said he had asked President Bush for time to work out an agreement on the All-American Canal lining project in Imperial County.

“There is not yet a solution, but I have asked for time,” Fox said.
The clock is ticking, as construction is expected to begin within weeks on the multimillion-dollar project, which involves replacing a leaky section of the canal and sending the saved water to San Diego County. The water in the canal is part of California's allotment from the Colorado River, but Mexican farmers for decades have relied on seepage from the canal to water their fields.

Fox broached the canal issue with Bush during a meeting in Cancun last March, urging Bush to reactivate a working commission to settle the issue. Bush agreed but told the Mexican president that the matter would be determined primarily by state governments and not by Washington, according to a U.S. National Security Agency official.

High-level officials from both sides met last month in Washington to discuss the canal, Fox said.

In Southern California, the project is proceeding. Bids have been opened and the contract is expected to be awarded this month, said Halla Razak of the San Diego County Water Authority.

“The project is very important,” Razak said. “It's going to provide water for the San Diego region that is quite critical for our future needs.”

Project completion is scheduled for 2008. The authority estimates the project would save nearly 70,000 acre-feet of water per year, enough for 134,000 households.

Water scholars on both sides of the border have argued that Mexico has a valid claim to the water.

“It's very late in the game. Money is being spent, contracts have been signed, the enormity of this effort is well under way,” said Stephen Mumme, a political scientist at Colorado State University who has specialized in water issues.

“My impression is that the Fox administration decided for pragmatic issues not to press too strongly for this at a time when it was still hoping to get an immigration agreement resolved.”

Planned for years, the project has generated concern among farmers as well as environmental groups who say the lining would cut off water to key wetlands on the Mexican side.

As the project has come closer to reality, they have become increasingly critical of Mexico's federal government for not speaking out more forcefully.

Last year, a Mexicali economic development organization joined with two U.S. environmental groups in a lawsuit filed against the U.S. Department of Interior and the Bureau of Reclamation in federal court in Las Vegas. The bureau owns the canal that carries Colorado River water to the Imperial Valley; the Imperial Irrigation District operates the canal.

The judge's ruling on the case is expected any day.

“In the absence of a court ruling, it's going to be difficult for Bush to justify reversing the process,” Mumme said.

Fox held out hope that an agreement can be reached: “I do not expect nor would I accept if they suddenly said, 'We've broken ground, and it's too late.' ”

As population explodes...water is going to become more valuable than oil.