Trump admin denies Mexico water after it short US-bound water for years

• The State Department rejected Mexico’s request for Colorado River water to flow to Tijuana. It cited Mexico’s failure to meet its treaty obligations to send 1.75 million acre-feet of Rio Grande water over a five-year period, of which less than a quarter has been delivered.

• Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott criticized Mexico for withholding water, highlighting the detrimental impact on Texas farmers who rely on the Rio Grande for crop irrigation.

• Mexico is facing a severe drought that began in 2022, complicating its ability to meet water-sharing obligations under the 1944 treaty. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has not commented on the U.S. decision.

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The federal government is turning down Mexico’s request for more Colorado River water after the country fell behind in sending water for U.S. use.

The U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs announced March 20 that it would deny Mexico’s special request for water from the Colorado River to flow to Tijuana. The department cites Mexico’s resistance to sending the U.S. water, despite the two countries having a long-standing agreement.

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“Mexico’s continued shortfalls in its water deliveries under the 1944 water-sharing treaty are decimating American agriculture–particularly farmers in the Rio Grande valley,” the bureau said on X. 

According to a 1944 treaty between the countries, Mexico is obligated to send the U.S. 1.75 million acre-feet from the Rio Grande over five years. In turn, the U.S. lets 1.5 million acre-feet of Colorado River water flow to Mexico each year. According to Voice of America, Mexico has sent less than one-quarter of what America is owed for the current five-year period that ends in October.

Mexico is currently working through a severe drought that started in 2022, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. 

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U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins said the denial of a special water delivery to Mexico was due to the country’s decision to withhold water from farmers in Texas who rely on a steady supply from the Rio Grande to grow their crops.

“Mexico has failed to uphold its end of the treaty, and American farmers have suffered the consequences,” Rollins said March 21. “Mexico was allowed to get away with it in years past—but those days are over.”

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Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said on the same day that his state is working with the Trump administration to hold Mexico accountable for not living up to its side of the treaty. 

“Mexico’s blatant disregard of water obligations must not be allowed to continue,” he said.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, an environmental engineer by trade, told reporters earlier this month that water is “an important issue” and that the state-run utility is addressing the matter.