Water Management in the Rio Conchos Basin: Impacts on Water Deliveries Under the 1944 Treaty

Abstract

The unusual drought that struck the Rio Bravo/Grande basin between Mexico and Texas in 1993 marked a new order in the relationship and commitments to water deliveries from both countries in the context of the 1944 Water Treaty. As a result, Mexico did not comply with the volume of deliveries required in the 1992-1997 cycle. Since then, Mexican deliveries have shared a climate of tension with the U.S., blamed partly on Mexico's unpredictability of its obligations. This tendency is gaining academic interest from the perspective of the Treaty and the binational relationship. However, the evidence on Mexico's inability to meet its binational commitments is still scarce. Hence, this article explores the Conchos River, Mexico's most important tributary to comply with its obligations, the water management and actors involved; the competition and possible conflict scenarios and their solutions; and the impacts on water deliveries from Mexico to the United States. The work uses the Multi-level Governance and Sub-national Hydropolitics concepts and the partial results of an investigation on the internal factors in the basin that affect water deliveries to the U.S.