International Boundary and Water Commission
![]() | This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. (March 2009) |
Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, Mexico | |
Official languages | English and Spanish |
---|---|
Commissioner (US section) | Maria-Elena Giner |
Commissioner (Mexican section) | Adriana Reséndez Maldonado |
Website | Official website |
The International Boundary and Water Commission (IBWC, Spanish: Comisión Internacional de Límites y Aguas, CILA) is an international body created by the United States and Mexico in 1889 to apply the rules for determining the location of their international boundary when meandering rivers transferred tracts of land from one bank to the other, as established under the Convention of November 12, 1884.[1]
The organization was created as the International Boundary Commission by the Convention of 1889 between the United States and Mexico.
Administration
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3f/Maria-Elena_Giner%2C_IBWC_Commissioner.jpg)
Some of the rights and obligations administered by the IBWC include:
- Distribution between the two countries of the waters of the Rio Grande and of the Colorado River
- Regulation and conservation of the waters of the Rio Grande for their use by the two countries by joint construction, operation, and maintenance of international storage hydroelectric energyat the dams
- Protection of lands along the river from floods by levee and floodway projects
- Solution of border sanitation and other border water quality problems
- Preservation of the Rio Grande and Colorado River as the international boundary
- Demarcation of the land boundary
The U.S. and Mexican commissioners meet at least weekly, alternating the place of meetings, and are in almost daily contact with one another. Each section maintains its own engineering staff, a secretary, and such legal advisers and other assistants as it deems necessary.
The border and water treaties
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo of 2 February 1848 fixed the international boundary between
1889 Border Convention
By the 1889 Border Convention (1 March), the two governments created the International Boundary Commission (IBC), to consist of a United States section and a Mexican section. The IBC was charged with the application of the rules of the 1884 Convention, for the settlement of questions arising as to the location of the boundary when the rivers changed their course. That convention was modified by the
1906 Boundary Waters Convention
The 1906 Boundary Waters Convention (21 May) provided for the distribution between the United States and Mexico of the waters of the Rio Grande above
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/ae/Comparison_of_the_rectified_channel_of_the_Rio_Grande_with_a_previous_natural_channel.svg/400px-Comparison_of_the_rectified_channel_of_the_Rio_Grande_with_a_previous_natural_channel.svg.png)
1933 Border Convention
In the 1933 Border Convention (1 February), the two governments agreed to jointly construct, operate, and maintain, through the IBC, the
1944 Water Treaty
The Water Treaty of 3 February 1944 distributed between the two countries the waters of the Rio Grande from Fort Quitman to the Gulf of Mexico, and the waters of the Colorado River. Of the waters of the Rio Grande, the treaty allocates to Mexico:
- All of the waters reaching the main channel of the Rio Grande from the San Juan and Alamo Rivers, including the return flows from the lands irrigated from those two rivers
- Two-thirds of the flow in the main channel of the Rio Grande from the measured Rio Escondido, and Rio Salado, and the Arroyo de las Vacas, subject to certain provisions
- One-half of all other flows occurring in the main channel of the Rio Grande downstream from Fort Quitman
The treaty allocates to the United States:
- All of the waters reaching the main channel of the Rio Grande from the Pecos and Devils Rivers, Goodenough Spring, and Alamito, Terlingua, San Felipe and Pinto Creeks.
- One-third of the flow reaching the main channel of the river from the six named measured tributaries from Mexico, and provides that this third shall not be less, as an average amount in cycles of five consecutive years, than 350,000 acre-feet (430,000,000 m3) annually
- One-half of all other flows occurring in the main channel of the Rio Grande downstream from Fort Quitman
The 1944 treaty further provided for the two governments to jointly construct, operate, and maintain on the main channel of the Rio Grande the dams required for the conservation, storage, and regulation of the greatest quantity of the annual flow of the river to enable each country to make optimum use of its allotted waters. The treaty also provides that of the waters of the Colorado River, Mexico is to receive:
- A guaranteed annual quantity of 1,500,000 acre-feet (1.9 km3) to be delivered in accordance with schedules formulated in advance by Mexico within specified limitations
- Any other waters arriving at the Mexican points of diversion under certain understandings
To enable diversion of Mexico's allotted waters, the treaty provided for the construction by Mexico of a main diversion structure in the Colorado River, below the point where the California–Baja California land boundary line intersects the river. It also provided for the construction at Mexico's expense of such works as may be needed in the United States to protect its lands from such floods and seepage as might result from the construction and operation of the diversion structure.
In the 1944 treaty, the two governments agreed to give preferential attention to the solution of all border sanitation problems. This treaty entrusts the IBWC (the renamed International Boundary Commission of the
Under the terms of the 1944 treaty, the two governments reached agreement for the solution of the international problem of the salinity of the Lower Colorado River (30 August 1973), and the IBWC submitted and the two governments approved "Recommendations for the Solution of the Border Sanitation Problems" (24 September 1979).
There has long been tension between the two countries over the quality of Colorado River waters flowing to Mexico, including the salinity of irrigation waters discharged into the river at the southern boundary. In 1970, Mexican President Luis Echeverria threatened to bring the salinity dispute to the International Court of Justice. After intense negotiations, the matter was settled by delsalinization works pursuant to Minute 242, International Boundary and Water Commission, United States and Mexico, TIAS 7708 (1973).[5]
Chamizal Convention
The Chamizal Convention of 29 August 1963 resolved the nearly 100-year-old boundary problem at El Paso and Ciudad Juárez. Known as the
1970 Boundary Treaty
The 1970 Boundary Treaty (23 November) resolved all pending boundary differences and provided for maintaining the Rio Grande and the Colorado River as the international boundary. The Rio Grande was re-established as the boundary throughout its 2,019-km (1,254 mile) limitrophe section. The treaty includes provisions for restoring and preserving the character of the Rio Grande as the international boundary where that character has been lost, to minimize changes in the channel, and to resolve problems of sovereignty that might arise due to future changes in the channel of the Rio Grande. It provides for procedures designed to avoid the loss of territory by either country incident to future changes in the river's course due to causes other than lateral movement, incident to eroding one of its banks and depositing alluvium on the opposite bank. This treaty, too, charged the IBWC with carrying out its provisions.
The Boundary Treaty of 1970 transferred 823 acres (333 ha) of Mexican territory to the U.S., in areas near
On November 24, 2009, the U.S. ceded six islands in the Rio Grande to Mexico, totaling 107.81 acres (0.4363 km2). At the same time, Mexico ceded three islands and two cuts to the U.S., totaling 63.53 acres (25.71 ha). This transfer, which had been pending for 20 years, was the first application of Article III of the 1970 Boundary Treaty. In recent years, the IBWC has been criticized as an institutional anachronism, bypassed by modern social, environmental, and political issues. The U.S. section has been described as secretive, beholden to special interests, and indifferent to environmental problems. The State Department has attempted to distance itself from responsibility for the U.S. section, even disclaiming jurisdiction, notwithstanding numerous statutes to the contrary. Critics, including the agency's employees, say poor leadership has led to deteriorating levees, dams, and water-treatment facilities.[6]
Dams
The IBWC operates the American Dam at the corner of Texas, New Mexico, and Mexico.
See also
- Title 22 of the Code of Federal Regulations
- International Boundary Wastewater Treatment Plant developed by the IBWC
- U.S.-Mexico borderfor a detailed treatment of the various conventions and treaties overseen by the IBWC
- Colorado River Compact
- Falcon International Reservoir
- Amistad Reservoir
- New River (California)U.S.-Mexico river, reported as most polluted in North America
References
- ^ a b c d "Treaties between the U.S. and Mexico". International Boundary and Water Commission. Archived from the original on 2015-06-01. Retrieved 2015-06-12.
- ^ ISBN 9780160922930.
- ^ International Boundary and Water Commission. "Minutes 144" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-03-08. Retrieved 2015-06-12.
- ^ International Boundary and Water Commission. "Minutes 158" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-03-08. Retrieved 2015-06-12.
- ^ Mark Feldman Oral History, Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training at p. 38 https://adst.org/OH%20TOCs/Feldman.Mark.pdf?swcfpc=1
- ^ Robert J. McCarthy, Executive Authority, Adaptive Treaty Interpretation, and the International Boundary and Water Commission, U.S.-Mexico, 14-2 U. Denv. Water L. Rev. 197 (Spring 2011). Also available for free download at https://ssrn.com/abstract=1839903.
Sources
This article incorporates public domain material from Official site. International Boundary and Water Commission.
- Robert J. McCarthy, Executive Authority, Adaptive Treaty Interpretation, and the International Boundary and Water Commission, U.S.-Mexico, 14-2 U. Denv. Water L. Rev. 197(Spring 2011) (also available for free download at https://ssrn.com/abstract=1839903).