Profligate Water Use in the US Is Fueling the Flight of Mexicans Across the Border

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.truthout.org/111608F

Tuesday 11 November 2008

by: Jo-Shing Yang | AlterNet

On October 21, 2008, the U.S. Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne inaugurated the ground breaking of the new Imperial Valley water reservoir near the U.S.-Mexico border. The 500-acre $172.2-million reservoir, to be completed in August 2010, will store surplus Colorado River water for use by coastal Southern California, southern Nevada, and central Arizona; previously this water had been flowing to Mexico and used by its cities and thousands of Mexican farmers.

This reservoir, along with the $250 million project to line a 23-mile stretch of the All-American Canal, also in the Imperial Valley, with concrete to prevent water seepage to an underground aquifer, Mexicali Valley aquifer, which is used currently by Mexican cities and farmers, means that there will be substantially less water from the Colorado River and dire consequences for Mexico.

An estimated 67,000 acre-feet of water seeps from the canal annually. In 2006, the Mexican government and two California environmental groups filed a lawsuit to stop the canal-lining project-ultimately unsuccessful. This captured seepage water will be sent to San Diego for municipal use. Now, Mexico has even less water to use, although theoretically it will still get its share of water of 1.5 million acre-feet under the 1944 treaty. The new Imperial Valley reservoir and the All-American Canal lining are two nails in the coffin of Mexico's water future. The triumphant U.S. water and irrigation districts, the winners of the two latest battles in the U.S.-Mexico water wars, are gloating over their victory in capturing the last drops of water in the Colorado River before they reach Mexico. Now, in the drought-stricken southwest, they can continue to irrigate vast corporate farms planted with thirsty crops, hose millions of suburban lawns, sprinkle golf courses, and fill tens of thousands of private swimming pools.

The losers are, naturally, poor Mexican peasants and subsistence farmers. Drought-induced social strains are the hardest for the most vulnerable people in Mexico and will further fuel illegal migration to the United States.

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I don't know how you guys feel but if I were dying of thirst because someone was diverting my drinking water immigration laws wouldn't mean much to me.

[pampango]

1. Doesn't matter. Build a better wall and back it up with more troops. Forget comprehensive reform.

We need "border security", "border security", "border security", and more "border security".

JK. I couldn't help presenting the republican "make the border 100% secure" (an impossible task) before we discuss ANYTHING else. ;)

I'm not sure though, how much people want to discuss the causes of immigration (that affect "them") rather than the effects immigration has on "us". Just build a better wall and whatever "their" problems are will remain "theirs" not "ours".

[RC]

2. When will it dawn on enough people that we are all on the same planet, and most of us are

just trying to survive till old age.

This country is really great with dealing with the symptoms, lousy with dealing with the root cause of anything.

Channeling a river in concrete to stop it's "loss" to an aquifer that another country depends on sounds like an act of war worthy of Israel. Stop it already!

[FarCenter]

3. Most Mexican agriculture and population is far south of the border

See