Below is an article about Mexico diverting the Rio Grande above Presido, which can (has) drastically effected the water levels in Amistad and Falcon.

This is a serious issue, which the conservation organizations (TABC, TBBU, Honey Hole BCA) are going to neeed some help in contacting state and federal representatives in getting some action.

BASS has already requested some information on this issue.

More to come.

Jim Murray


Part of Rio Grande diverted
IBWC official blames Mexican farmers
By TONY VINDELL
Valley Morning Star
5/15/03
Some western parts of the Rio Grande are nearly dry
and U.S. officials blame it on Mexican farmers
diverting water for irrigation.
Water flow from Presidio to El Paso has nearly
stopped, and water officials claim that a makeshift
earthen dam about 50 miles upriver from Presidio is
the cause.
Ken Rakestraw, chief of water accounting with the
International Boundary and Water Commission in El
Paso, said that very little water is flowing on that
segment of the river.
"They (Mexican farmers) pushed dirt across the river
near Candelaria and there is very little water coming
down right now," he said Tuesday afternoon. "We are
not sure when it happened, but we started seeing that
this morning."
Candelaria is a little town on the U.S. side of the
Rio Grande, across from the Mexican state of
Chihuahua.
Rakestraw said that IBWC officials are talking with
Mexican officials to reach a solution.
"The river is also very low all the way from El Paso
to the Big Bend National Park area," he said. "It?s an
area of concern for us."
Carlos Rubinstein, the Rio Grande Valley watermaster,
said water flow has slowed to a trickle between
Redford and the ghost town of Lajitas.
"Water has been diverted at a point known as El
Mulato," he said, "and some of that water belongs to
the United States."
Although it?s too early to tell what impact the
reduced water flow could have on Falcon and Amistad
dams ? the watersheds for the Rio Valley, Rubinstein
said there are two issues to address.
One is that the river has gone dry in some parts of
its natural course, and the other is that some of the
water being diverted into Mexico is owned by the
United States.
The water-sharing issue has been a source of
diplomatic and economic friction between the two
countries, particularly since Mexico has refused to
fully abide by the terms of a 1944 water treaty,
officials said.
The Texas Department of Agriculture estimates that
Mexico owes 1.4 million acre-feet of water to the
United States and the water debt has caused an
estimated $1 billion in losses to the Valley economy
during the past 10 years. An acre-foot would cover an
acre of land under one foot of water.
Gordon Hill, general manager with the Bayview
Irrigation District No. 11, said Mexico is blatantly
stealing water that belongs to U.S. farmers.
He said he contacted some U.S. officials to inform
them about the latest development.
"We are not going to sit back and let them do that to
us," Hill said. "It?s ridiculous."
He also said that Mexican farmers began illegally
pumping water from the Rio Grande on Friday, but they
had to stop because the river level was dropping
considerably.
Rubinstein confirmed that development.
"It takes seven days for water to come down from the
dams, but once it got down here it was stolen," Hill
said. "If we have no water to pump, our farmers will
get no water for irrigation. What the hell are they
going to do?"

2 apache helocopters with some hellfire missles should fix that little dam pretty easy

Folks have always illegally fished (gill nets) on the TX side of the Rio Bravo and excessively pumped water, but never tried to actually divert the water flow...guess they don't understand, or care, that it will hurt BOTH sides further south. Hope this issue can be resolved - but it's doubtful!

A squad of infantry and a couple of shovels could handle it for a lot less money. Just looking after the national debt... :P

Yeah, but the Hellfires sure would be cool, and it would send a message to those dang farmers, not to mess with our fishing holes, or their tributaries.

There is a special on KERA tonight or in the next few days on this issue. Mexico has always pumped more water out than their allotted rights, but we have not done anything. I was talking with a guy that used to work down there and he told me there have always been little dams and others diverting the water. It is the same on the guadalupe.

There was a good article in the Dallas Morning News, 5-22, about the Rio Grande, mainly around Big Bend. It is drying up! On KERA, on 5-29, there will be a special about Texas water problems. It is time to get tuff with Mexico. The two governments have been "talkin" about this for years. The governor of the Mexico state that traps most of the water won't even give us the time of day.

HEAR HEAR... Let's go ahead and address the issue of commercial gill netting while we are at it!

Personally, I think it is wasteful to put sharelunker genetic fish back into border lakes. United States should learn from Mexico, they take trophy fish caught in shared lakes with the States and relocate them to their game lakes in the interior of Mexico. There, Mexico actually practices strict game laws promoting growth of larger trophy bass.

Better yet,

Screw Mexico and the horse it rode to town on...

This is where Bush screwed up. The recent immigration reforms should have had a condition of the Water Treaty being enforced and FOLLOWED by Mexico tacked onto it... It was brought up many times by people down there to the State Dept and they ignored it...

Guess I'll have to start shooting pumps across the river with my 300 Ultra again. And no, I ain't joking either.

I'm with you buzzbait,

I don't know much about the trajectory on the 300 ultra, but I can forward you windage and elevation out to 800 yards for a 7 mag.

I didn't have to adjust for anything down here. 100-125yds max distance + 173 solid core reload = shattered engine block or pump housing.

Where have you guys been?

Mexico has been steal Billions of acre ft. of water for years. There's been many of articles in the BASS Times and maybe even Bassmasters Mag. about it.

But, they will write an article about the Mexican stealing water from South Texas and US and then have feature article about a Bass Pro fishing El Salto or some other Mexican lake and take ads in the back of the magazine from Mexican Fishing resorts.

Texans need to boycott any Mexican lake or border lake that require a Mexican fishing license or boat permit.

Geez where was this article found? Jim Murray passed away 2 yrs ago.

Debra Hengst
Deb's Guide Service
http://www.debrahengst.com