By: Lucio III (Senate Sponsor - Hinojosa) H.C.R. No. 55
(In the Senate - Received from the House April 11, 2013;
April 18, 2013, read first time and referred to Committee on
Natural Resources; May 8, 2013, reported favorably by the
following vote: Yeas 10, Nays 0; May 8, 2013, sent to printer.)
HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
WHEREAS, Mexico's failure to fulfill its water deliveries to
the United States according to the stipulations of a 1944 treaty
between the two countries significantly harms the interests of
Texas; and
WHEREAS, The Rio Grande is both an interstate and
international river arising in the mountains of Colorado and
flowing in a southerly direction through New Mexico, where it forms
the border between the United States and Mexico beginning near El
Paso; the river is a shared and vital resource providing municipal
water for millions of Texans and irrigation water for hundreds of
thousands of acres in Texas; and
WHEREAS, Below Fort Quitman, the waters of the Rio Grande are
apportioned to the United States and to Mexico per the terms of the
1944 Treaty, "Utilization of Waters of the Colorado and Tijuana
Rivers and of the Rio Grande"; Article IV of the treaty requires
that inflows from certain named tributaries of the Rio Grande be
apportioned one-third to the United States and two-thirds to
Mexico; and
WHEREAS, The 1944 Treaty specifically requires that "this
third shall not be less, as an average amount in cycles of five
consecutive years, than 350,000 acre-feet (431,721,000 cubic
meters) annually"; Mexico is allowed to deliver less than this
annual average amount of water during a five-year cycle only in the
event of an extraordinary drought, and not all years in a delivery
cycle reflect extraordinary drought conditions; and
WHEREAS, Many municipal, industrial, and agricultural water
users in Texas rely almost exclusively on these waters from the Rio
Grande for their water supplies; it is thus critical to the state's
interests that, during years in which extraordinary drought is not
present, Mexico take all necessary measures to address accumulated
water delivery deficits; and
WHEREAS, During the current five-year delivery cycle, which
began on October 25, 2010, Mexico has failed to deliver an amount of
water equal to the annual average required by the 1944 Treaty, and
the deficit amount so far exceeds 390,000 acre-feet; and
WHEREAS, Several irrigation districts in the Lower Rio Grande
Valley of Texas are now projecting they will exhaust their
irrigation water reserves by mid-year 2013 as a result; these same
irrigation districts deliver municipal water to almost all of the
cities in the Lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas; and
WHEREAS, The 1944 Treaty requires that the United States
Section of the International Boundary and Water Commission, which
is a subdivision of the United States Department of State, ensure
compliance with the terms of the 1944 Treaty; and
WHEREAS, The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality has
conveyed and communicated these issues and concerns to the
International Boundary and Water Commission, and it is vital that
the IBWC and the state department recognize the critical
socioeconomic importance of this issue; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, That the 83rd Legislature of the State of Texas
hereby respectfully urge the U.S. Department of State and the
United States Section of the International Boundary and Water
Commission to take appropriate action to ensure that Mexico
complies with the 1944 Treaty and that it takes all necessary steps
to make deliveries to the United States a priority during its annual
water allocation deliberations; and, be it further
RESOLVED, That the Texas secretary of state forward official
copies of this resolution to the secretary of state of the United
States and to the commissioner of the International Boundary and
Water Commission, United States and Mexico.
* * * * *