The United States-Mexico groundwater dispute : domestic influence on foreign policy Item Type Dissertation-Reproduction (electronic); text Authors Mumme, Stephen P. Publisher The University of Arizona. Rights Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author. Download date 10/10/2021 16:23:05 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10150/191066 THE UNITED STATES-MEXICO GROUNDWATER DISPUTE: DOMESTIC INFLUENCE ON FOREIGN POLICY by Stephen Paul Mumme A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of the DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL SCIENCE In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY In the Graduate College THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA 1982 THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA GRADUATE COLLEGE As members of the Final Examination Committee, we certify that we have read the dissertation prepared by Stephen Paul Mumme entitled The United States-Mexico Groundwater Dispute: Domestic Influence on Foreign Policy and recommend that it be accepted as fulfilling the dissertation requirement for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy /21/// gY Date /74 aette Date ik4 Date Date Date Final approval and acceptance of this dissertation is contingent upon the candidate's submission of the final copy of the dissertation to the Graduate College. I hereby certify that I have read this dissertation prepared under my direction and recommend that it be accepted as fulfilling the dissertation requirement. ) 9 ) Dissertation Director Date STATEMENT BY AUTHOR This dissertation has been submitted in partial fulfillment of requirements for an advanced degree at The University of Arizona and is deposited in the University Library to be made available to bor- rowers under rules of the Library. Brief quotations from this dissertation are allowable without special permission, provided that accurate acknowledgment of source is made. Requests for permission for extended quotation from or re- production of this manuscript in whole or in part may be granted by the head of the major department or the Dean of the Graduate College when in his judgment the proposed use of the material is in the in- terests of scholarship. In all other instances, however, permission must be obtained from the author. SIGNED:2 (-7 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This dissertation has received support from various sources. Research on the International Boundary and Water Commission, United States and Mexico was facilitated by grants from the University of Arizona Graduate Student Development Fund that enabled the author to interview Commission officials in El Paso, Texas. He also benefitted from a graduate summer internship with the Latin American Program of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars at the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. that provided the opportunity to inter- view officials at the Department of State and avail himself of the wealth of resources in the Washington, D.C. area, especially the National Archives and Library of Congress. The author is especially grateful to the Program in United States-Mexican Studies at the University of California, San Diego; its Director, Dr. Wayne A. Cornelius, for making available the time and facilities withoug which this project might not have been completed. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS vii ABSTRACT ix 1. THE GROUNDWATER CONFLICT: OVERVIEW AND THEORY 1 Introduction 1 Water Resource Conflict in International Relations: Implications for the Groundwater Controversy . 7 Systems Analysis 11 Decision Making Theory 13 International Integration Theory 18 Institutional-Group Process Models 24 Domestic Structure and the Groundwater Conflict. 26 Conclusion 39 2. A GROUNDWATER ISSUE AS IT HAS EMERGED: A GEOHYDROLOGICAL PANORAMA 43 Groundwater: Some Hydrological Considerations . 43 Manifest and Latent Groundwater Problems Along the Border 46 The Lower Rio Grande Valley 49 The Middle Rio Grande Valley 55 The Upper Rio Grande Valley 55 The New Mexico-Chihuahuan Border Region 58 The Sonoran Desert Borderlands 60 The San Diego-Tijuana Metropolitan Area 67 Conclusion 69 3. HISTORICAL AND LEGAL BASES OF UNITED STATES-MEXICAN WATER RELATIONS 73 The Convention of 1906 on the Rio Grande River . 75 The Convention of 1906 76 The Chamizal Controversy and Arbitration of 1911 . 80 The U.S.-Mexican Water Treaty of 1944 84 The Salinity Crisis on the Colorado River, 1961-1973 91 Legal Implications of U.S.-Mexican Water Conflicts . 102 iv •• ▪ TABLE OF CONTENTS--Continued Page 4. DEVELOPMENT AND GROWTH IN THE MEXICAN BORDERLANDS: IMPLICA- TIONS FOR GROUNDWATER DEVELOPMENT 115 Water Development in the United States Borderlands . 117 Water Development in the Mexican Borderlands: Trends and Policies 131 Population and Urbanization 132 Employment and Income 136 Agricultural Development and Water Use 142 Urban Water Use and Development 150 Developmental Objectives in the Borderlands. 153 Conclusion 166 5. WATER ADMINISTRATION AND POLICY IN MEXICO AND THE UNITED STATES: OVERVIEW AND COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS 169 Water Law and Administration in the United States and Mexico 172 Domestic Patterns of Water Administration and Policy . 185 Water Policy in Mexico 194 Conclusion 218 6. DOMESTIC POLITICS AND U.S.-MEXICAN WATER RELATIONS 221 Domestic Political Influence on the 1944 Treaty and Salinity Crisis 223 The Water Treaty of 1944 224 244 The Salinity Crisis, 1961 - 1973 Comparison and Analysis 262 The International Boundary and Water Commission, United States and Mexico: Domestic Affects on the Making of Bilateral Water Policy 272 Conclusions and Implications 284 7. THE GROUNDWATER CONFLICT: PERSPECTIVES ON A SETTLEMENT. 293 Obstacles to a Groundwater Treaty 296 Hydrological 297 Legal 299 Economic 303 Political 305 vi TABLE OF CONTENTS--Continued Page Politics and Approaches to Settling the Groundwater Dispute 311 Status Quo 315 Equitable Apportionment 316 Legal Prescription-U.S. Domestic Law 321 International Adjudication and Arbitration 329 Comprehensive Management 331 Case by Case Negotiation 333 Scenario for a Settlement 335 Implications for U.S.-Mexican Relations 339 REFERENCES 342 LIST OF TABLES Page 1. Inventory of Groundwater Areas Along U.S.-Mexico Border. 51 2. Population Growth in U.S. Border Counties and States 1956-1977 118 3. Actual Irrigated Acreage in U.S. Border Counties and States 121 4. Water Use Trends in the Rio Grande Basin, Years 1974, 2030 (100 acre feet) 124 5. Water Sources of U.S. Border Municipalities 127 6. Population Incteases and Urban Proportions of Mexico and the Northern Border States, 1949-1970 (thousands) 133 7. The Growth of Mexico's Border Cities, 1960-1976 (Population in Thousands) 134 8. The Ten Most Urbanized States in Mexico, 1976 (Percent Urban Population) 135 9. Mexican Border State Population by Urban-Rural Breakdown, 1960-1976 (Population in Thousands) 137 10. Percentage of the Working Population in Agriculture and Services in the Mexican Border States, 1960-1976 138 11. Mexican States Ranked According to Annual Per Capita Income and Percentage of National Industrial Product, 1965 . 140 12. Estimated Cumulative Increase in Irrigated Farmland in Mexico, 1936-1973 (hectares) 143 13. The Ten Largest States in Irrigated Acreages Ranked for 1974-1975 (in percent of total national hectares irrigated . 145 14. Land Irrigated in Mexican Border States, 1964-1965, 1974- 1975 (hectares) 146 15. Value of Principal Crops in Border Municipalities (thousands of pesos in 1960) 149 vii viii LIST OF TABLES--Continued Page 16. Municipal Potable Water Services in Selected Mexican Border Cities (in percent) 152 17. Distribution of Irrigation Water in Mexicali and San Luis Valleys According to Gravity Fed or Pumping from Wells. 164 ABSTRACT This study examines the groundwater controversy in U.S.-Mexican relations and the role domestic political structures are likely to play in shaping a bilateral agreement apportioning transboundary groundwater. The study shows that waterpolicy making in the United States takes a distributive form while policy making in Mexico resembles a mobili- zation style of policy formation. It is argued that these dissimilar national water policy systems affect the way both nations engage the other in bilateral water disputes and are relvant to ascertaining the prospects for resolving the groundwater controversy. The study surveys the relevant hydrological, historical and economic context bearing on the groundwater dispute, then examines the mole.s of domestic policy making in each country. It follows with an analysis of how national differences ir policy making are witnessed in previous bilateral water conflicts. Water policy patterns pertaining to the United States and Mexico respectively strongly influence the making of foreing policy in this sogere. Domestic policy making affects the manner of politization, objectives sought by each nation, and the diplomatic style seen in the adjustment of bilateral water agreements. Patterns seen in previous water conflicts, it is suggested, may obtain in the groundwater case. Nevertheless, the groundwater controversy is substantially different from earlier surface water disputs. Hydrological variation between problem situations is apt to fragment political interests in the ix United States. Nor is there a firm basis for approaching a settlement in international law. These conditions frustrate extrapolation of past political