“water hoarding” on the U.S. side of the border

Ricardo Castillo celebrates the Colorado River “pulse flow” and reminds of us the transboundary tensions that preceded it. He sounds pissed:

U.S. Americans proudly boast about the beauty of the Grand Canyon and the might of the Colorado River as “great American treasures.”

Over the past 50 years, however, both the U.S. federal government and the governments in the water hoarding states of Colorado, Utah, Nevada, Arizona and California forgot one little detail. The Colorado River does not stop at the U.S.-Mexico border but flows into the Gulf of California.

So by the time Mexico gets its share of water — which should be on equal terms with the aforementioned states — reality has it that a trickle-down policy has been applied.

The end result has been that the Colorado River Delta, which is in Mexico, has dried up.

The good news is that at long last, U.S. Americans have stopped playing deaf and dumb on this issue and finally agreed to allow the spring pulse flow into the delta. It may not be much as it is — barely 1 percent of the total Colorado River water — but scientists coincide that it will be enough to bring the delta back to life.