Crossborder Organizing to Save
the Colorado River Delta

By Cesar Angulo

Los usuarios ecológicos del río, pioneros de su conservación
El escenario del pleito por el agua: exigencias y propuestas
En busca de un futuro para el delicado delta
Resources

With water levels dropping precipitously, the Colorado River Delta faces a bleak future. The survival of the Delta-and of the plants, animals and communities that live there-will depend on the ability of a nascent network of residents, water users, scientists, environmentalists, and U.S. and Mexican government officials to hammer out agreements among conflicting interests.

The Delta and its environs make a unique contribution to the region's biodiversity and are recognized as a protected natural area on the Mexican side. The Delta region comprises the southern portions of California and Arizona, and northwestern Mexico. Today the Delta encompasses only 10% of its original area because of dwindling water flows.

Collaboration between residents on both sides of the border has been crucial for taking firm steps toward the conservation and restoration of the Delta. Although this area of the border is the last stronghold of the Western Hemisphere's most altered river, many people refuse to forego the wealth of its ecosystem. Future conservation will depend on collaboration and understanding between stakeholders in both countries, who share the natural wealth of the ecosystem in the Sonora Desert.

It's difficult to imagine the grandeur the river once displayed. Through the first decades of the twentieth century, steamships navigated the waterway that is today reduced to a bare trickle in some places.

Don Onésimo González Sáinz, the traditional leader of the Cocopah tribe, states flatly, "This river already died." Don Onésimo was among the last Cocopah fishermen to catch abundant shrimp and fish in the waters of the Colorado River. The Cocopah (the name means "river people") are now witnessing the extinction of the watercourse and of their traditional forms of subsistence.

Having lived for thousands of years on the shores of the lower basin of the river and its delta, the Cocopah were the first victims of the dams and the diversion of the Colorado River. These projects began in 1931 with the construction of the massive Hoover Dam in Nevada.

After that there were more diversions, until a total of ten large dams and dozens of smaller deviations had been built, from the source of the river high in the Rocky Mountains in Colorado until its mouth at the Sea of Cortes, some 2,000 miles to the south. Over the last 65 years, the Colorado has been subjected to the intensive use of its water to meet agricultural, urban and industrial needs in the United States and Mexico.

Despite the damage to the natural habitat, the Colorado Delta still has important attributes considered priorities for conservationists. Flooding in recent years has caused a resurgence of native plants and the emergence of close to 12,000 hectares of wetlands in the Mexicali and San Luis Río Colorado valleys.

The Delta is also a sanctuary for some 200 resident and migratory bird species, 11 mammal species, and 8 fish species. The Delta region, covering 150,000 hectares, is inhabited by some 200,000 persons in 1,127 fishing and farming communities.

Field research in the area by numerous scientists supported by academic institutions in both countries has determined that the area constitutes a crucial ecosystem for the region's environment and productive activities directly linked to nature. A binational group of scientists concluded that, based on the current scenario for water availability, more than 600,000 ha of the Delta and the riparian ecosystems are threatened.

But the complicated political context surrounding the water of the Colorado is not promising for the environment of the river's lower basin. Indeed, even in the best-case scenario, the area's water will become scarce in the near future, if not fully depleted.

Recent events in the political relations between Mexico and the United States suggest that the loser in the political war over water will be the Delta's delicate ecosystem.

Ecological users of the river, pioneers in conservation

Some ten years ago, the people of the region took the first steps of what by now has become an organized effort to defend the Delta's survival and its beneficial influence on the ecosystem and habitat of hundreds of species of flora and fauna. Their actions began when residents of small communities located on the banks of the river met with researchers and activists from Mexican and U.S. organizations. These first meetings later led to written agreements between the governments.

One of the most substantial results is Minute 306, in which the International Boundary and Water Commission (IBWC) recognizes the effect on the Delta's ecology caused by the scarcity of water run-offs in the area. In the document, signed in El Paso, Texas, in December 2000, the IBWC undertakes to examine the effects on the riparian and estuary environment within the river's shared area, through a Binational Technical Task Force.

An increasingly large group of citizens interested in the preservation of the Colorado River Delta has also undertaken the difficult chore of dealing with laws, government agencies, interests and water policies, both in Mexico and in the United States.

In the seventies, when Mexican growers from the Mexicali Valley realized that their harvests were dying off without bearing fruit, the entire fertile valley appeared doomed to desolation. The reason for this was the extreme salinity of the water that flowed downstream through the Colorado to Mexico. Thousands of hectares were lost, hundreds of growers were ruined, and the local economy collapsed overnight. The episode also strained U.S.-Mexico relations: Mexican growers rioted next to the port of entry to the United States, burning hundreds of U.S. visas in protest over the delivery of poor-quality water.

Three decades later, binational relations continue to be tense because of the water of the Colorado. When upper-level officials are required to make statements to the press on how the Colorado's water is divided between the two countries, they usually speak in hushed tones to avoid controversy.

Moreover, every interested party has its own opinion in the controversy over the Colorado River. On the one hand, U.S. state governments have been waging a pitched battle over water, with agricultural and urban users, and environmentalists adding their voices to the din. In addition, the allocation to Mexico, guaranteed in the Water Treaty signed in 1944 by the two countries, has become an international sore point. The stakeholder that invariably has fared the worst in the distribution of water is the Colorado River Delta. In this tug-of-war over water, the Delta, as a passive user of the water volumes that flow into the river, has lost ground.

Despite the water wars, people continue to work for the survival of the Delta. Their hope stems from the small battles won through the mobilization of activists and users of the river. Their activism presages a growing interest in recognizing and solving the crisis of the lower part of the river-before it's too late.

As a result of citizen mobilization, in 1999 the Ecological Association of Users of the Hardy and Colorado Rivers (Asociación Ecológica de Usuarios del Río Hardy y Colorado, AEURHYC) was created, made up of fishermen, campesinos, tourism services providers, and Cocopah tribe members.

Among other objectives, AEURHYC hopes to close down sources of pollution of the water and wetlands of the Hardy River (a branch of the Colorado), restore and conserve the river channel, and promote regional development projects keyed to environmental conservation criteria.

The Association has carried out restoration projects in the Delta area with the support of Mexican and U.S. organizations such as the Sonoran Institute, Pronatura, and Conservation International. Other organizations involved include the Intercultural Center for the Study of Deserts and Oceans (CEDO), Living Rivers, the Pacific Institute, Environmental Defense, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), and Defenders of Wildlife.

The work coordinated among conservation organizations, environmentalists, and the users of the river has successfully consolidated local efforts and initiatives in favor of conserving and restoring the Delta. For example, with the support of the Sonoran Institute, AEURHYC has constructed retaining walls to help raise the water level in the area where local residents promote sport fishing or ecotourism.

As a part of its program "Colorado River Delta Project," over the last three last years the Sonoran Institute has developed an itinerant seminar in the lower basin of the river to provide Mexican and U.S. journalists with firsthand information on the situation in the Delta.

The Fight over Water: Demands and Proposals

If asked, any activist, scientist, or user of the Colorado River Delta will say that the solution to the area's problems could not be more obvious: more water is needed in this part of the river. The problem is the paucity of water, and assuring future flows.

A prolonged drought in the region surrounding the lower basin and brewing political litigation over the river's water gives reason for little hope. Dams are currently at dangerously low levels. The drought has taken the water supply problems to the political sphere, and the users of the basin-both the upper and lower portions-seek to reaffirm their water rights set forth in the 1944 agreement.

The State of Nevada has submitted a request to the U.S. Department of the Interior for more water to avoid a shortfall for urban uses. The Navajo Nation recently raised questions on the water fees established all along the lower basin. California, Arizona, and Nevada need increasingly large amounts of water, and the states of the upper basin, which traditionally allowed the water to run downriver, are today seeing increases in their own water consumption. The State of Colorado is preparing to considerably increase its use of water in the short term. It has begun a feasibility study for the aptly called "Big Straw" Project, which would divert water from the Colorado River at the Colorado-Utah state line to pipe it through the Rocky Mountains to Denver. This project, based on an aqueduct with pipes 12 feet in diameter, would take from 10 to 27 years to complete at an estimated cost of between US$3.8 billion and US$15 billion. The initiative has sparked a major controversy. Its economic feasibility has been questioned, and doubts have been raised on the project's environmental repercussions.

The region is currently in a situation of water stress, and one of the first ecosystems to be damaged is the wetlands of the Colorado River Delta. In a drive to save as much water as possible, the United States is studying the possibility of operating a desalinization plant located in Yuma, Arizona-a large complex built 10 years ago. The plant costs US$2.4 million per year solely in maintenance expenses and was initially intended to treat water from the agricultural valleys of southwestern Arizona and return the treated water to the Colorado just before it enters Mexico. But the plant's operation was cancelled and a decision was made to send the untreated water to Mexico through a cement channel that runs parallel to the Colorado River and flows into a ravine in what today are known as the wetlands of the Santa Clara Marsh. The desalinization plant, considered a white elephant, was abandoned.

The operation of the plant will interrupt the flow of water that sustains the Santa Clara wetlands, thereby condemning them to disappear and causing severe ecological damage in the surrounding area.

U.S. interests continue to ratchet up pressure on the lower basin of the Colorado River. New demands call for 100% utilization of the water allocations of the Colorado River that the treaty gives the United States. These pressures have created an unfavorable climate for the Delta's conservation, according to environmental and conservation organizations that work in the area. The fear is that these changes will likely undermine efforts to use water for ecological purposes in the Colorado River and the Delta.

U.S. environmental groups headed by Defenders of Wildlife lost an important lawsuit that would have required the United States to take account of the impacts on threatened species in the Delta. The groups estimate that, over the long term and in the absence of favorable political actions and cooperation between the two governments, both the amount and the quality of water available to support to the Colorado River Delta and the marsh will continue to deteriorate.

The political visibility of water-related issues has heightened significantly, further complicating negotiations. U.S. deliveries of water to Mexico through the Colorado have become a political cause in that country. In 2003, Texas representatives submitted a resolution in Congress requesting that President George W. Bush withhold water deliveries from the Colorado River in reprisal for Mexico's failure to make its water payments from the Rio Grande.

Seeking a future for the delicate Delta

Until now, U.S. government agencies have been mostly indifferent toward the situation of the Delta and the environmental impacts caused by the scarcity of water in this region. Environmental groups working in the area assert that the active involvement of individuals and organizations is the only way to avert an imminent war over the river's water in which the Delta's environment and ecosystems will very likely end up losing.

Hope for the Delta, in the opinion of Francisco Zamora, head of the Colorado River Delta Project, must come from all stakeholders. Much progress has been made in terms of building awareness among both Mexican and U.S. government agencies and in gaining the commitment of the communities that depend on the Colorado River and Delta.

But that is not enough. Concrete actions and viable projects are needed to achieve a permanent flow of water to the Delta. According to the results of the Binational Workshop to identify water conservation priorities in the Colorado River Delta, in which 35 scientists from both counties took part, certain priority areas have now been identified for conservation. The workshop, organized by the Centro de Investigación en Alimentación y Desarrollo (Research Center in Nutrition and Development), Environmental Defense, Pronatura Sonora, the University of Arizona, the WWF, and the Sonoran Institute, found that an area of 341,000 ha needs restoration work to reestablish ecological functions; another 186,000 ha are currently in good condition and provide critical habitat for endangered and threatened species but need protective measures for the future.

The workshop led to preliminary research on implementing a resources inventory and a comprehensive monitoring program in the area of the Delta. Work is also being carried out on a water model that includes surface and underground water in the region. Another multidisciplinary group of Mexican and U.S. scientists from different institutions is working on compiling data on both biological and socioeconomic issues to develop a conservation master plan for the entire region.

These are some of the actions that are changing the outlook for the survival of the Delta, at a critical juncture at which conservation efforts are more urgent than ever.

As don Onésimo, the Cocopah leader, rightly says, "Here the only solution is for them to let the water flow down the river as it once did."

— César Angulo

Cesar Angulo americas@irc-online.org is a journalist based in Mexico City and a frequent contributor the IRC Americas Program. He has worked in newspapers, magazines and electronic publications in the United States and Mexico, and is a founding member of the Mexican Network of Environmental Journalists.

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Resources
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Contacts
Internet articles

Contacts

Francisco Bernal
Comisión Internacional de Límites y Aguas (CILA), Baja California.
(686) 554-1621
fbernal@cilamexeua.gob.mx

José Campoy
Reserva de la Biosfera Delta del Río Colorado y Alto Golfo de California. San Luis Río Colorado, Sonora.
(653) 536-3757
avoceta@telnor.net

Meredith de la Garza
Pronatura Sonora. Guaymas, México
(622) 221-1505
meredith@invitados.itesm.mx

Onésimo González Sais
Comunidad Indígena Cucapá el Mayor. Carretera a San Felipe kilómetro 57
Mexicali, Baja California.

Osvel Hinojosa
University of Arizona. Tucson, Arizona.
(520)-626-4203
osvel@u.arizona.edu

Miriam Lara Flores
Asociación Ecológica de Usuarios Río Hardy-Colorado. Mexicali, Baja California.
(686) 564-9921
aeurhyc@telnor.net

Francisco Zamora
Sonoran Institute. Tucson, Arizona.
(520) 290-0828
francisco@sonoran.org

Internet articles (English and Spanish)

A resource for the Colorado River Delta
http://www.ag.arizona.edu/colorado_river_delta/

Acontecimientos recientes relacionados con el río Colorado: Implicaciones para la conservación de su delta.
http://www.sonoran.org/programs/pdfs/Acontecimientos%20recientes%20rio%20colorado.pdf

Aspectos del agua en la región fronteriza de la cuenca del río Colorado.
http://www.pacinst.org/colorado_sp.pdf

A Delta Once More: Restoring Riparian Habitat and Wetland Habitat in the Colorado River Delta
http://www.environmentaldefense.org/pdf.cfm?contentid=425&filename=Delta%2Epdf

Simposio del delta del río Colorado
http://www.ibwc.state.gov/FAO/CRDS0901/SpanishSymposium_1.pdf

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Published by the Americas Program at the Interhemispheric Resource Center (IRC). ©2004. All rights reserved.

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