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Topic: Mexico

Overview April 24, 2014

Mexico

The Mexican Water Treaty of 1944 committed the U.S. to deliver 1.5 million acre-feet of water to Mexico on an annual basis, plus an additional 200,000 acre-feet under surplus conditions. The treaty is overseen by the International Boundary and Water Commission.

Colorado River water is delivered to Mexico at Morelos Dam, located 1.1 miles downstream from where the California-Baja California land boundary intersects the river. The river’s natural terminus is the Gulf of California in Mexico, but because of the dams and diversion facilities throughout the Colorado River Basin, natural flow rarely reaches the Gulf. Water diverted at Morelos Dam is primarily used to irrigate Mexicali Valley farmland, and also supplies the cities of Mexicali, Tecate and Tijuana.

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Aquafornia news August 15, 2025 NavyTimes

Contaminated air, water affect Navy training area in California

… Since the 1970’s, untreated sewage flows have polluted the [Tijuana] river, contaminating beaches from the California communities of Coronado to La Jolla and disrupting both military operations and civilian life. Generations of service members stationed along the Silver Strand in San Diego County have trained, lived and worked under the shadow of this cross-border contamination problem. For Naval Special Warfare units, the ocean is an operational environment. SEAL candidates train daily in the surf zone, practicing timed swims, underwater navigation and small-boat handling. When bacterial counts spike, training is curtailed or moved, disrupting schedules and adding logistical strain.

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Aquafornia news August 14, 2025 Border Report

Study: Fecal matter from Mexican sewage detected 50 miles north of border

A binational analysis of data from 20 beaches on both sides of the border shows fecal bacteria is present in the water and exceeds health standards almost year-round. Over a two-year period, One Coast Project and the Permanent Forum of Binational Waters looked into water samples gathered since 1999 along the coastline from Carlsbad, California, about 50 miles north of the border, to Rosarito, Baja California, roughly 15 miles south of Tijuana. The study found that in Southern California’s beaches, the highest concentrations of enterococci bacteria were reported during the spring, averaging over 15,000 units per 100 milliliters of water, nearly 100 times the binational legal limit average in both countries.

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Aquafornia news August 8, 2025 San Diego Union-Tribune

Opinion: U.S.-Mexico sewage deal proves that diplomacy can pay off

… Last month’s agreement to accelerate tackling the long‑running sewage crisis in the Tijuana River Valley is proof that — even now — quiet, institutional diplomacy can deliver. … Since the 1983 La Paz Agreement, the United States and Mexico have built a structured framework for environmental cooperation. … In 2022, this collaboration deepened with a memorandum of understanding and a commitment from Mexico to invest $144 million in wastewater infrastructure in the Tijuana River Watershed by 2027. … The new agreement reinforces this prior commitment by prioritizing the remaining $93 million and accelerating timelines, reflecting a shared understanding that expanded infrastructure and sustained operations are vital to protect public health and ecosystems.
–Written by Duncan Wood, CEO of Hurst International Consulting in Washington, D.C., and Marie Elena Giner, former commissioner for the International Boundary and Water Commission.

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Aquafornia news August 6, 2025 Border Report

More trash booms might pop up following success in Tijuana River

This past rainy season, a trash boom in the Tijuana River kept 500 tons of plastics, trash and other debris away from the Tijuana River Valley and the Pacific Ocean, far exceeding expectations. On Tuesday morning, Oscar Romo, director of Alter Terra, the non-profit in charge of the boom, gave a tour of the area to members of the Rural Community Assistance Partnership, one of the agencies that helped secure funding for the trash boom. … For the time being, the boom has been dismantled but will be reassembled and operational in a few months. “RCAP was funded through the California State Water Board to have the booms, deploy them for two storm seasons,” [Rural Community Assistance Partnership Community Programs Director Jennifer] Hazard said. “We were able to extend that to a third storm season.”

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Aquafornia news August 4, 2025 inewsource (San Diego, Calif.)

Trump EPA races to meet Biden’s timelines on sewage crisis

Last week Mexico and the U.S. reached an agreement committing both nations to expedite and solidify funding for projects meant to curb the Tijuana River sewage crisis. [I]f both countries keep their promises, the Tijuana and San Diego communities could see significant progress in confronting a problem that has long plagued them – billions of gallons of untreated wastewater flowing through the Tijuana River watershed past neighborhoods, and into the Pacific Ocean. The projects on the agenda, however, are nothing new. … While leaders and advocates are celebrating the efforts from both governments to accomplish goals, they also say more can be done and it remains unclear what recourse there will be if either party fails to meet the timelines.

Other U.S.-Mexico water news:

  • Border Report: Mexico creating ‘hydro refugees’ by not protecting water resources, researcher says
  • NBC7 (San Diego): San Diego County leader visits Tijuana River for the first time
  • CBS8 (San Diego): San Diego County supervisors witness Tijuana River pollution crisis firsthand, as new warning signs go up
  • FOX5 (San Diego): Imperial Beach shoreline closed due to high sewage levels
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Aquafornia news July 29, 2025 The Conversation

Blog: Water wars — a historic agreement between Mexico and US is ramping up border tension

As climate change drives rising temperatures and changes in rainfall, Mexico and the US are in the middle of a conflict over water, putting an additional strain on their relationship. Partly due to constant droughts, Mexico has struggled to maintain its water deliveries for much of the last 25 years, in keeping with a water-sharing agreement between the two countries that has been in place since 1944 (agreements between the two regulating water sharing have existed since the 19th century). As part of this 1944 treaty, set up when water was not as scarce as it is now, the two nations divide and share the flows from three rivers (the Rio Grande, the Colorado and the Tijuana) that range along their 2,000-mile border. The process is overseen by the International Boundary and Water Commission.

Other U.S.-Mexico water news:

  • Mexico Business News: US, Mexico sign US$93 million deal to fix Tijuana River Sewage
  • Surfrider Foundation: Blog: US & Mexico commit to expediting solutions to Tijuana River sewage crisis
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Aquafornia news July 28, 2025 CNN

US and Mexico agree to long-term wastewater treatment plan in the San Diego-Tijuana region

The governments of Mexico and the United States signed a memorandum of understanding on Thursday to fund and expedite several wastewater treatment projects in the Tijuana River basin. Untreated wastewater continually affects residents living along the river, which flows across the border from Tijuana and through several of San Diego’s southern neighborhoods. Residents living along the river have long battled severe health issues which researchers say stem from the river’s contamination. … In Thursday’s event celebrated in Mexico City, US Environmental Protection Agency Secretary Lee Zeldin and Mexico’s Secretary of the Environment and National Resources of Mexico Alicia Bárcena agreed to a series of actions to be taken by both governments by 2027 to address the deteriorating wastewater treatment crisis.

Other Tijuana River sewage news:

  • The New York Times: U.S. and Mexico sign deal to stop sewage release into Tijuana River
  • E&E News by Politico: Trump admin inks deal with Mexico over sewage crisis
  • The San Diego Union-Tribune: Editorial: EPA announcement most promising news yet on local sewage nightmare
  • The Press Democrat (Santa Rosa, Calif.): US and Mexico sign accord to combat Tijuana River sewage flowing across the border
  • NBC7 (San Diego): New sewage crisis agreement has some hopeful in the Tijuana River Valley
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Aquafornia news July 25, 2025 Los Angeles Times

Trump EPA commits to ‘100% cleanup’ of badly polluted Tijuana River

Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin committed the Trump administration to “a permanent, 100% solution to the decades-old Tijuana River sewage crisis” in a new agreement signed with Mexico on Thursday. … According to the agreement, Mexico will shake loose $93 million in money it previously committed, known as “Minute 238 funds.” Deadlines for several long-discussed improvements will also come sooner — some this year — it says. One example is the 10-million gallons per day of treated effluent that currently flows into the Tijuana River from the Arturo Herrera and La Morita wastewater treatment plants and will now go to a site upstream of the Rodriguez Dam, southeast of Tijuana. … The MOU also commits the two countries to taking into account Tijuana’s growing population, to make sure that infrastructure improvements are not outstripped by changes on the ground.

Related articles:

  • Times of San Diego: U.S., Mexico agree to speed up projects that ease sewage flows in Tijuana River
  • Reuters: US, Mexico reach agreement on reducing sewage flows across border and into San Diego
  • Border Report: US, Mexico reach deal to ‘permanently and urgently end’ border sewage crisis
  • Courthouse News Service: U.S., Mexico ink deal to fix Tijuana River sewage problem
  • The Hill: US signs MOU with Mexico on Tijuana River sewage crisis
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Aquafornia news July 23, 2025 Border Report

Like the weather, pollution in ocean can be forecast

Scientists from UC San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography have unveiled a tool that forecasts sewage-contamination levels at beaches in south San Diego County. It’s called the Pathogen Forecast Model hosted by the Southern California Coastal Ocean Observing System at Scripps. The Pathogen Forecast Model website provides detailed estimates shoreline sewage concentrations and the likelihood of swimmers getting sick for Playas Tijuana, Imperial Beach, Silver Strand State Park, and Coronado. … According to [Scripps oceanographer Falk] Feddersen, the tool is the first of its kind in the nation that responds to a longstanding problem of raw sewage from Mexico circulating in the coastal ocean on both sides of the border.

Other Tijuana River sewage news:

  • San Diego Union-Tribune: Is it safe to swim? New forecasting tool predicts severity of ocean pollution
  • KPBS: Oceanographers create 5-day forecast for beach pollution
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Aquafornia news July 22, 2025 KALW (San Francisco)

Podcast: The environment sees no borders

… For decades, pollution from both sides of the U.S. / Mexico border have seeped into the Tijuana River. These impacts have only been made worse by climate change. From the border community of Imperial Beach at California’s Southern tip, reporter Philip Salata tells us more about how pollution, history, politics, and environmental racism all add up to a massive public health crisis. … [Salata:] This is actually a seasonal river, normally dry for most of the year. Not anymore. Now it flows year round with sewage. There’s been almost 1300 consecutive days of beach closures. 

Other Tijuana River sewage news:

  • The Coronado Times (Calif.): South Bay survey shows concerns about air quality, tap water, and living in the area due to Tijuana sewage
  • Coronado Eagle & Journal (Calif.): Operation Beaver marked the 45th anniversary of a bold move to keep the Imperial Beach shore open
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Aquafornia news July 17, 2025 LatinAmerican Post

As a lake disappears, Mexico and Texas clash over water promises made in a different climate

… The 1944 Water Treaty between the U.S. and Mexico was signed in a different world, when rivers seemed eternal and drought was merely a seasonal phenomenon. It obligated Mexico to deliver 430 million cubic meters of water to the U.S. each year, while the U.S. released over four times that amount to Mexico from the Colorado River. But the math no longer works. Mexico is now 1.5 billion cubic meters behind on its side of the deal. The tributaries it relies on—especially the Conchos—have dried. … Legal scholars at El Colegio de la Frontera Norte argue the treaty must evolve. Since 1944, basin populations have doubled, farming has intensified, and the Rio Grande basin has warmed 1.3°C (2.3°F). They propose adding a “flex clause” that would scale water allocations to real-time climate and hydrological data. However, U.S. officials fear that any renegotiation might threaten Mexico’s Colorado River entitlements, which are already shrinking due to record-low water levels at Lake Mead. In the meantime, the treaty isn’t solving the conflict—it’s deepening it.

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Aquafornia news July 14, 2025 BBC

The deepening water shortage row between the US and Mexico

After the thirtieth consecutive month without rain, the townsfolk of San Francisco de Conchos in the northern Mexican state of Chihuahua gather to plead for divine intervention. … Under the terms of a 1944 water-sharing agreement, Mexico must send 430 million cubic metres of water per year from the Rio Grande to the US. … Following pressure from Republican lawmakers in Texas, the Trump administration warned Mexico that water could be withheld from the Colorado River unless it fulfils its obligations under the 81-year-old treaty. … Since then, Mexico has transferred an initial 75 million cubic metres of water to the US via their shared dam, Amistad, located along the border, but that is just a fraction of the roughly 1.5 billion cubic metres of Mexico’s outstanding debt. … Farmers on the Mexican side read the agreement differently. They say it only binds them to send water north when Mexico can satisfy its own needs, and argue that Chihuahua’s ongoing drought means there’s no excess available. 

Other U.S.-Mexico water news:

  • Nature Water: Micro-level inequalities in plumbing completeness along the US–Mexico borderlands
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Aquafornia news July 8, 2025 San Diego Union-Tribune

Residents want to know: How do you decide safe levels of hydrogen sulfide?

… The odor comes from a toxic gas that’s colorless and smells like rotten eggs. It’s hydrogen sulfide, or H2S, a byproduct of the millions of gallons of untreated sewage from Mexico that regularly chokes one of America’s most endangered rivers, the Tijuana River. UC San Diego researchers, led by Kim Prather, recently found that sewage-linked bacteria and toxic chemicals in the river are airborne. In the past couple of years, the volume of sewage flows, laced with contaminated stormwater, noxious chemicals and trash, has been the highest in the last quarter-century, worsening conditions for those living and working nearby. … But the data remains woefully insufficient to conclude what long-term exposure means for individuals, especially for vulnerable groups such as children or those with respiratory problems. And there are only three monitors generating information for a border region that is home to tens of thousands of residents who have raised concerns for years.

Other Tijuana River sewage news:

  • Science News: NASA images may help track sewage in coastal waters
  • San Diego Union-Tribune: Are children living near the border at greater risk of health problems due to sewage crisis?
  • San Diego Union-Tribune: Even with Aguirre’s election to board, sewage news is mostly grim
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Publication March 4, 2024 Colorado River Basin Map

Layperson’s Guide to the Colorado River Basin
Updated 2024

Cover of Layperson's Guide to the Colorado River Basin

Learn the history and challenges facing the West’s most dramatic and developed river. 

The Layperson’s Guide to the Colorado River Basin introduces the 1,450-mile river that sustains 40 million people and millions of acres of farmland spanning seven states and parts of northern Mexico.

The 28-page primer explains how the river’s water is shared and managed as the Southwest transitions to a hotter and drier climate.

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Western Water March 25, 2022 California Water Bundle WESTERN WATER-New EPA Regional Administrator Tackles Water Needs with a Wealth of Experience and $1 Billion in Federal Funding By Douglas E. Beeman

New EPA Regional Administrator Tackles Water Needs with a Wealth of Experience and $1 Billion in Federal Funding
WESTERN WATER Q&A: Martha Guzman says surge of federal dollars offers 'greatest opportunity' to address longstanding water needs, including for tribes & disadvantaged communities in EPA Region 9

EPA Region 9 Administrator Martha Guzman.Martha Guzman recalls those awful days working on water and other issues as a deputy legislative secretary for then-Gov. Jerry Brown. California was mired in a recession and the state’s finances were deep in the red. Parks were cut, schools were cut, programs were cut to try to balance a troubled state budget in what she remembers as “that terrible time.”

She now finds herself in a strikingly different position: As administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Region 9, she has a mandate to address water challenges across California, Nevada, Arizona and Hawaii and $1 billion to help pay for it. It is the kind of funding, she said, that is usually spread out over a decade. Guzman called it the “absolutely greatest opportunity.”

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Western Water August 27, 2021 Layperson's Guide to the Colorado River Delta Water-Starved Colorado River Delta Gets Another Shot of Life from the River’s Flows By Gary Pitzer

Water-Starved Colorado River Delta Gets Another Shot of Life from the River’s Flows
WESTERN WATER NOTEBOOK: Despite water shortages along the drought-stressed river, experimental flows resume in Mexico to revive trees and provide habitat for birds and wildlife

Water flowing into a Colorado River Delta restoration site in Mexico.Water is flowing once again to the Colorado River’s delta in Mexico, a vast region that was once a natural splendor before the iconic Western river was dammed and diverted at the turn of the last century, essentially turning the delta into a desert.

In 2012, the idea emerged that water could be intentionally sent down the river to inundate the delta floodplain and regenerate native cottonwood and willow trees, even in an overallocated river system. Ultimately, dedicated flows of river water were brokered under cooperative efforts by the U.S. and Mexican governments.

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Western Water March 14, 2019 Colorado River Basin Map Gary Pitzer

‘Mission-Oriented’ Colorado River Veteran Takes the Helm as the US Commissioner of IBWC
WESTERN WATER Q&A: Jayne Harkins’ duties include collaboration with Mexico on Colorado River supply, water quality issues

Jayne Harkins, the U.S. Commissioner of the International Boundary and Water Commission.For the bulk of her career, Jayne Harkins has devoted her energy to issues associated with the management of the Colorado River, both with the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and with the Colorado River Commission of Nevada.

Now her career is taking a different direction. Harkins, 58, was appointed by President Trump last August to take the helm of the United States section of the U.S.-Mexico agency that oversees myriad water matters between the two countries as they seek to sustainably manage the supply and water quality of the Colorado River, including its once-thriving Delta in Mexico, and other rivers the two countries share. She is the first woman to be named the U.S. Commissioner of the International Boundary and Water Commission for either the United States or Mexico in the commission’s 129-year history.

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Western Water June 15, 2018 Jenn Bowles Colorado River Basin Map Jennifer Bowles

Domino Effect: As Arizona Searches For a Unifying Voice, a Drought Plan for the Lower Colorado River Is Stalled
EDITOR'S NOTE: Finding solutions to the Colorado River — or any disputed river —may be the most important role anyone can play

Nowhere is the domino effect in Western water policy played out more than on the Colorado River, and specifically when it involves the Lower Basin states of California, Nevada and Arizona. We are seeing that play out now as the three states strive to forge a Drought Contingency Plan. Yet that plan can’t be finalized until Arizona finds a unifying voice between its major water players, an effort you can read more about in the latest in-depth article of Western Water.

Even then, there are some issues to resolve just within California.

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Western Water June 15, 2018 Colorado River Basin Map Gary Pitzer

As Colorado River Levels Drop, Pressure Grows On Arizona To Complete A Plan For Water Shortages
WESTERN WATER IN-DEPTH: A dispute over who speaks for Arizona has stalled work with California, Nevada on Drought Contingency Plan

Hoover Dam and Lake Mead

It’s high-stakes time in Arizona. The state that depends on the Colorado River to help supply its cities and farms — and is first in line to absorb a shortage — is seeking a unified plan for water supply management to join its Lower Basin neighbors, California and Nevada, in a coordinated plan to preserve water levels in Lake Mead before they run too low.

If the lake’s elevation falls below 1,075 feet above sea level, the secretary of the Interior would declare a shortage and Arizona’s deliveries of Colorado River water would be reduced by 320,000 acre-feet. Arizona says that’s enough to serve about 1 million households in one year.

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Publication March 27, 2017

Layperson’s Guide to the Colorado River Delta
Published 2017

The Colorado River Delta once spanned nearly 2 million acres and stretched from the northern tip of the Gulf of California in Mexico to Southern California’s Salton Sea. Today it’s one-tenth that size, yet still an important estuary, wildlife habitat and farming region even though Colorado River flows rarely reach the sea.

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Western Water Magazine November 16, 2016

Two Countries, One River: Crafting a New Agreement
Fall 2016

This issue of Western Water examines the ongoing effort between the United States and Mexico to develop a new agreement to the 1944 Treaty that will continue the binational cooperation on constructing Colorado River infrastructure, storing water in Lake Mead and providing instream flows for the Colorado River Delta.

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Western Water Excerpt November 10, 2016 Jenn Bowles

Two Countries, One River: Crafting a New Agreement
Fall 2016

As vital as the Colorado River is to the United States and Mexico, so is the ongoing process by which the two countries develop unique agreements to better manage the river and balance future competing needs.

The prospect is challenging. The river is over allocated as urban areas and farmers seek to stretch every drop of their respective supplies. Since a historic treaty between the two countries was signed in 1944, the United States and Mexico have periodically added a series of arrangements to the treaty called minutes that aim to strengthen the binational ties while addressing important water supply, water quality and environmental concerns.

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Video May 21, 2014

Two Sides of a River (60-minute DVD)

California’s little-known New River has been called one of North America’s most polluted. A closer look reveals the New River is full of ironic twists: its pollution has long defied cleanup, yet even in its degraded condition, the river is important to the border economies of Mexicali and the Imperial Valley and a lifeline that helps sustain the fragile Salton Sea ecosystem. Now, after decades of inertia on its pollution problems, the New River has emerged as an important test of binational cooperation on border water issues. These issues were profiled in the 2004 PBS documentary Two Sides of a River.

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Video May 21, 2014

Two Sides of a River (60-minute DVD Spanish)

$25.00

Spanish version of the 60-minute 2004 PBS documentary Two Sides of a River. DVD

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Maps & Posters May 20, 2014

Colorado River Basin Map
Redesigned in 2017

Redesigned in 2017, this beautiful map depicts the seven Western states that share the Colorado River with Mexico. The Colorado River supplies water to nearly 40 million people in Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, Wyoming and Mexico. Text on this beautiful, 24×36-inch map, which is suitable for framing, explains the river’s apportionment, history and the need to adapt its management for urban growth and expected climate change impacts.

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Aquapedia background February 11, 2014 Colorado River Basin Map

Salton Sea

As part of the historic Colorado River Delta, the Salton Sea regularly filled and dried for thousands of years due to its elevation of 237 feet below sea level.

The most recent version of the Salton Sea was formed in 1905 when the Colorado River broke through a series of dikes and flooded the seabed for two years, creating California’s largest inland body of water. The Salton Sea, which is saltier than the Pacific Ocean, includes 130 miles of shoreline and is larger than Lake Tahoe. 

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Aquapedia background February 11, 2014

Colorado River Water and Mexico

The Mexican Water Treaty of 1944 committed the U.S. to deliver 1.5 million acre-feet of water to Mexico on an annual basis, plus an additional 200,000 acre-feet under surplus conditions. The treaty is overseen by the International Boundary and Water Commission.

Colorado River water is delivered to Mexico at Morelos Dam, located 1.1 miles downstream from where the California-Baja California land boundary intersects the river between the town of Los Algodones in northwestern Mexico and Yuma County, Ariz.

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Aquapedia background February 11, 2014

Colorado River Delta (in Mexico)

The Colorado River Delta is located at the natural terminus of the Colorado River at the Gulf of California, just south of the U.S.-Mexico border. The desert ecosystem was formed by silt flushed downstream from the Colorado and fresh and brackish water mixing at the Gulf.

The Colorado River Delta once covered 9,650 square miles but has shrunk to less than 1 percent of its original size due to human-made water diversions.

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Western Water Magazine November 1, 2013

An Era of New Partnerships on the Colorado River
November/December 2013

This printed issue of Western Water examines how the various stakeholders have begun working together to meet the planning challenges for the Colorado River Basin, including agreements with Mexico, increased use of conservation and water marketing, and the goal of accomplishing binational environmental restoration and water-sharing programs.

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Western Water Magazine November 1, 2012

A Call to Action? The Colorado River Basin Supply and Demand Study
November/December 2012

This printed issue of Western Water examines the Colorado River Basin Water Supply and Demand Study and what its finding might mean for the future of the lifeblood of the Southwest.

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Western Water Magazine November 1, 2009

The Colorado River: Building a Sustainable Future
November/December 2009

This printed issue of Western Water explores some of the major challenges facing Colorado River stakeholders: preparing for climate change, forging U.S.-Mexico water supply solutions and dealing with continued growth in the basins states. Much of the content for this issue of Western Water came from the in-depth panel discussions at the September 2009 Colorado River Symposium.

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Western Water Magazine September 1, 2008

Just Add Water? Restoring the Colorado River Delta
September/October 2008

This printed copy of Western Water examines the Colorado River Delta, its ecological significance and the lengths to which international, state and local efforts are targeted and achieving environmental restoration while recognizing the needs of the entire river’s many users.

  • Read more

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