Border Water Shortage Causes Conflict

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Border Water Shortage Causes Conflict

The Texas-Mexico dispute over the Rio Grande’s water continues. What is the cause of this world’s water crises?

“Whiskey is for drinking and water is for fighting over,” an old western saying goes. At least the last half of that statement is holding true as 40-plus Texan farmers, ranchers, and irrigation district officials ready themselves to take their incessant water war with Mexico to the next level.

The roots of the Texas-Mexican water dispute go back to the 1944 Mexican Water Treaty, which determined how water from the Colorado, Tijuana and Rio Grande drainage basins would be divided between Texas and Mexico. Article 4 of the treaty stipulates that one third of the water reaching the Rio Grande from the Conchos, San Diego, San Rodrigo, Escondido, Las Vacas Arroyo and Salado rivers is allotted to the United States. If this amount of water turns out to be less than 350,000 acre feet annually, however, Mexico is to make up the difference. In times of drought, an allowance is made for the Mexicans to pay their water debt at the end of a five-year cycle.

As compensation for this water debt, the United States delivers 1.5 million acre feet of water to Mexico annually from the Colorado River.

But currently, drought and overuse are sucking the Rio Grande dry. Meanwhile, the population of the Rio Grande valley has doubled from 1.1 million to 2.2 million since 1970. Mexico violated the water treaty and shorted the Texans on Rio Grande water from 1993 to 2002. This water shortage prompted the 40-plus Texan farmers, ranchers and irrigation district officials to sue the Mexican government for $500 million in damages.

Mexico finally made up its water debt in September 2005, but many Texan farmers are still worried about the future. “If Mexico doesn’t pay any penalty, it’s easier for them to do it again,” Ray Pruitt, president of Texas Citrus Mutual, said.

The Texans were denied a hearing by a North American Free Trade Agreement tribunal and ignored by Washington, and are appealing to a Canadian court to rule that nafta should hear their case.

This conflict portends a future of potential conflict between Mexico and the United States over water. The problem of diminishing rainfall in some parts of the region, in addition to a shrinking Rio Grande, will only be aggravated by growing demands for water by large population centers along both sides of the border.

A growing demand for water at a time when supplies are diminishing creates the perfect atmosphere for conflict. It wouldn’t be the first time water has been the source of conflict between two parties. After all, there isn’t a more precious commodity to human life than water.

God promises multiple times throughout the Bible that obedience to Him results in rain in due season, when and where it is needed. But today we see historic droughts gripping the southeastern United States and the Rio Grande Valley. At the same time, the Midwest and Great Lakes regions are beset by flooding.

God stated years ago that He would punish His people by sending rain in one city and withholding it in another if they turned away from Him (Amos 4:7). The only real answer to the border water war is returning to God and His way of life and receiving blessings from the only one who can control international weather.

Read “Flash Floods, Scorched Earth” to learn more about the cause of America’s weather problems and Mystery of the Ages to find out how to receive God’s blessings in your personal life.