I ran out of water on the Mexican-American border

Apocalyptic disaster movies and the darkest scenarios of the climate crisis tend to predict a future in which the fight for survival revolves around water. Although war has not yet broken out because of it, there are serious conflicts in more and more parts of the world around dwindling water supplies. We also wrote in 444 that after the filling of the vast Nile reservoir in Ethiopia began, the countries further down the river, Sudan and Egypt, responded with rather serious threats.

Now, on the other side of the world, on the border between Mexico and the United States, there has been a dispute over water that has claimed human lives in addition to political tensions.

The site is located in the state of Chihuahua in northern Mexico, separated from its much larger and richer northern neighbor by a single river, the Rio Grande, and a wall built along certain sections along it. Here the landscape is like in the Wild West movies, in some places desert, in others dry savanna or barren mountains. There is little rainfall and there is serious competition between local farmers and farmers for irrigation water from wells and reservoirs.

However, Chihuahuas cannot distribute all their water, they must deliver something to Americans. Under a 1944 treaty, water resources on both sides of the border must be shared between the two countries in a way that is as favorable as possible for both parties. Under the agreement, Mexico as a whole will receive four times more water than it should deliver to Americans, but despite a favorable balance at the national level, the state of Chihuahua does not share well.

The Mexican side has to export a total of 431 million cubic meters of water per year, 54 percent of which Chihuahua must inject into the national community. Because Río Conchos, the largest southern tributary of the Rio Grande in Mexico, known as the Rio Bravo, reaches the border from the cross.

In moderately rainy years, Mexico has been able to deliver the contracted amount of water to Texas farmers across the border, but this year the state is hit by a particularly severe drought, where there are drops anyway. The water here is of such value that, according to a Mexican journalist spoken by Al-Jazeera, it is the second most important catalyst for violent crime in Chihuahua after organized crime. According to him, the persistent water shortage here has traditionally been caused by the poor condition of illegal wells, dams and canals.

And Chihuahua agriculture, which was already struggling with water shortages, was only compounded by global warming and the fact that the North American Free Trade Agreement, which came into effect in 1994, attracted Mexican farmers. from the rest of the country who wanted to produce for the US market.

Chihauhua farmers, already in such a difficult situation, are finally affected by the 2020 drought. Already in February, when problems were suspected, the Mexican federal police took over the protection of La Boquilla , the most important reservoir in Conchos. Chihuahuas who demanded water protested throughout the year, set fire to government buildings, and even captured some politicians for a short time in the hope that they could seize the water intended for Americans.

The worst confrontation occurred on September 8, when thousands of Chihuahuan peasants armed with stones and sticks regularly assaulted a few hundred police officers who were defending La Boquilla. The latter saw fit to run more. Meanwhile, there was also a demonstration in the nearby big city, Delicias, and it ended tragically. It is not very clear what exactly happened, but after a clash between farmers and federal police, a protesting woman was killed and her husband seriously injured.

The brutal action by the police was just oil on fire, and in the weeks since then, the atmosphere around the Conchos River has been tense. Mexicans would have to cross more than 400 million cubic feet of water across the United States border by October 24, while angry farmers are still in control of the La Boquilla reservoir. In response, the military is now helping Mexican police prevent someone from swallowing the water in Conchos and the sewer system it feeds. Currently, this means that 30,000 people in the area do not have access to sufficient water.

The Mexican press knows that the country’s government is now trying to get Americans to receive water from other reservoirs up to the amount stipulated in the treaty. It will not be easy to reach any agreement with the neighbor to the north, as the cornerstone of Donald Trump’s policy is hardening with the Mexicans, and he certainly does not want to save a few weeks before the presidential election on November 3.

Complicating matters even more is the need for Mexican water in Texas, which Trump and the Republicans in no way can lose if they want to keep the White House, and polls suggest the party may be adjusted in the southern state. In any case, Greg Abbott, the Republican governor of Texas, has already requested the intervention of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo so that Mexico meets this year’s water quota. The key to the solution is probably not in the hands of Chihuahua farmers, nor will they necessarily put their perspectives first.

(Források: Al Jazeera, Diario de Chihuahua, New York Times)