Mexico has plans to send water to the United States through the El Cuchillo dam, located in Nuevo León, as compensation for the existing debt with the neighboring country and in response to Donald Trump's threats of tariffs. The delegate of the National Water Commission (Conagua), Luis Carlos Alatorre, proposed using water from the El Cuchillo dam, crucial for supplying the metropolitan area of Monterrey, to settle the debt with the United States.
In an interview with the newspaper Reforma, Marco Antonio Garza, leader of Irrigation District 026 of Tamaulipas, confirmed the proposal raised in a meeting last week. However, farmers opposed the idea because it would involve opening the Marte R. Gómez dam in Tamaulipas to receive water from El Cuchillo, as both reservoirs are located in the tributary of the San Juan River, which led to the rejection of the proposal.
Regarding Trump's threats, who cited the 1944 Water Treaty, it is emphasized that Mexico is committed to delivering a minimum of 431 million 721 thousand cubic meters of water from the Rio Bravo basin to the United States annually, distributed over 5-year cycles. According to the agreement, the water delivery must be equitable between both countries, utilizing the Colorado, Bravo, and Tijuana rivers.
According to the treaty, Mexico must deliver 2 billion 158 million cubic meters of water every 5 years to the United States. So far, Mexico has a debt of more than three years in water delivery to the United States due to droughts, representing a 72 percent non-compliance with its commitment.
