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Minute No. 241
Following meetings on June 15 and 16, 1972, between Presidents Nixon
and Echeverria, Minute No.
241 of the International Boundary and Water Commission, dated July 14,
1972, replaced Minute No.
218. Minute No. 241 provided that the United States would discharge
Wellton-Mohawk water
below Morelos Dam at the annual rate of 118,000 acre-feet per year
(amounting to 73,000 acre-feet
during the balance of 1972). In place thereof the United States would
substitute an equal quantity of
other waters, or an additional 41,000 acre-feet of water released from
above Imperial Dam and
32,000 acre-feet of water pumped from 12 wells on the Yuma Mesa. The
result was that the total
deliveries exceeded the 1.5 million acre-feet per year guaranteed by
the Treaty since the bypassed
Wellton-Mohawk drainage waters were not counted as part of the Treaty
water. This process
reduced the average annual salinity of water delivered to Mexico from
1,242 ppm in 1971 to 1,141
ppm for the year ending June 30, 1972.
Under Minute No. 241 Mexico further requested that the United States
discharge the balance of
Wellton-Mohawk drainage water (approximately 95,000 acre-feet) below
Morelos Dam, for which
no substitution of fresh water was to be made, and which was charged to
Mexico's 1.5 maf
deliveries. This resulted in a further decrease of the average
salinity from 1,140 ppm to 980 ppm for
the year ending June 30, 1973, which was about 130 ppm higher than the
average salinity of water
arriving at Imperial Dam for a similar period.
Minute No. 242
As promised in the June 1972 meetings by President Nixon, on August 16,
1972, he appointed Mr.
Brownell as his special representative and later as a Special
Ambassador and Minute No. 242, dated
August 30, 1973, evolved. Its principal provisions were:
The United States would adopt measures to assure that Mexico received
water with an average salinity of no more than 115 ppm, plus or minus
30 ppm, over the annual average salinity at Imperial Dam;
The United States would bypass Wellton-Mohawk drainage water at the
annual rate of 118,000 acre-feet per year without charge against Mexico's
Treaty allotment, and substitute therefor an equal volume of other
waters to be discharged to the Colorado River above Morelos Dam;
The United States will continue to deliver approximately 140,000 acre-
feet per year on the land boundary at San Luis Mexico, in partial
satisfaction of the Treaty obligation;
The existing Wellton-Mohawk drain would be extended approximately
53 miles to the Santa Clara Slough on the Gulf of Mexico at United
States expense;
Ground-water pumping within 5 miles of the Arizona-Sonora
boundary would be limited by each country to 160,000 acre-feet per year;
The United States would support Mexican efforts to finance improvement
of the Mexicali Valley; and
The new Minute is the permanent and definitive solution to the
salinity problem.
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