The US and Mexico are in conflict over the Rio Grande and Colorado River
The U.S. and Mexico are experiencing another border dispute, and this one is about water. The conflict stems from an 80-year-old treaty where the countries agreed to share water from the Colorado River and the Rio Grande. However, because water is in more demand but scarcer than ever, sharing has not been going to plan. The U.S. and Mexico signed a treaty in 1944 stipulating that Mexico send 1.75 million acre-feet of water to the U.S. every five years from the Rio Grande, and the U.S. send 1.5 million acre-feet of water to Mexico from the Colorado River each year. But water levels are lower than ever, and Mexico has “sent only about 30% of its expected deliveries, the lowest amount at this point of any four- or five-year cycles since 1992,” said Reuters. … The effects are far-reaching. … Texas, in particular, is home to sugar and citrus farms struggling from a lack of water. On the other hand, farmers in Mexico are protesting sending water to the U.S., as they are also suffering from scarcity.