By Shelby Shank
Field Editor

Texas Congressional lawmakers continue efforts to force Mexico to deliver on its water debt owed to the U.S. under the 1944 Water Treaty.

U.S. Rep. Monica De La Cruz wrote a letter to the incoming Mexican president, Claudia Sheinbaum, requesting to meet and address the issue.

“The ongoing water scarcity in South Texas represents a true crisis for both communities and farmers,” De La Cruz wrote in the letter. “Given the dire need for water relief in South Texas, I respectfully request a meeting with you so that we may best work together to resolve this long-standing issue.”

Under the treaty, Mexico is required to deliver 1,750,000 acre-feet of water every five years, an average of about 350,000 acre-feet per year.

The foreign country currently owes the United States about 900,000 acre-feet of water. They have until the end of the five-year cycle, which ends in October 2025, to deliver that water.

De La Cruz expressed concern over the consistent delays in meeting these obligations that have severely impacted farmers in the Rio Grande Valley and requests Mexico “make immediate releases of water to the United States as owed under the 1944 Water Treaty.”

U.S. Rep. Vicente Gonzalez told reporters he has a meeting planned with Sheinbaum to discuss water payments and other issues.

“I have a meeting with the incoming President Sheinbaum,” Gonzalez said. “I intend to bring up the issues that I’ve been critical on Mexico, the insecurity along our borders and in the interior of Mexico. I’m going to bring up the water debt that still hasn’t been paid and other issues that I think are concerns for us.”

U.S. Sens. Ted Cruz and John Cornyn also hope to force Mexico to comply by introducing legislation that, if approved, would restrict federal aid and prohibit trade and development funds for Mexico if it fails to deliver the water it agreed to.

The amendment was introduced as part of the National Defense Authorization Act. It would cap foreign assistance to Mexico at 85% of what was appropriated. The measure would also prohibit U.S. Trade and Development Agency funds for grantees in Mexico and prohibit federal aid to Mexico’s private sector.

“Texas farmers and cities are suffering because Mexico has consistently failed to uphold its end of the bargain and provide Texans with the water they count on in the framework of the 1944 Water Treaty,” Cruz said in a statement.

For the measure to become law, the U.S. House must approve it, and President Joe Biden would have to sign it.

These are the latest efforts by lawmakers who have been working in recent months to force Mexico to provide Texas and the U.S. the water it is owed.

And as drought conditions intensify and water becomes even more scarce in the Rio Grande Valley, Texas Farm Bureau (TFB) and other agricultural groups are calling on lawmakers to continue those efforts and enforce more drastic actions.

“Farmers and ranchers have held on as long as they can without water,” Laramie Adams, TFB associate director of Government Affairs, said. “Unless Congress gets aggressive and our U.S. leaders get aggressive, agriculture in the Valley as we know it will cease to exist.”

The water crisis is a priority issue for TFB. The organization has coordinated a meeting between Rio Grande Valley farmers and the International Boundary and Water Commission, U.S. Department of State, National Security Council, U.S. Department of Agriculture, U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and White House staff to discuss the water debt.