Mexico and Texas Water Wars

The first I heard of this was an announcement that the United States was cutting off a water delivery to Tijuana.

I thought, good grief, that seems extreme. Why for we do that?

NEW—

For the 1st time, the Trump Administration has denied a special delivery of Colorado river water to Tijuana (outside of treaty obligations) arguing repeated failure by Mexico to comply in delivering water to Texas

90% of Tijuana water comes fr/the Colorado

⚡️via @Reforma pic.twitter.com/aBQDPRkHEz

— José Díaz Briseño (@diazbriseno) March 20, 2025

And what is this about Texas missing out on water that’s supposed to be ‘delivered’ from Mexico and hasn’t been?

It turns out that Mexico is obligated by a 1944 treaty to deliver an average of 350,000 acre-feet of RIo Grande and Rio Bravo water to the state every year. Mexican water deliveries have fallen way off these past few years, almost to being non-existent. 

…Under the 1944 international treaty, Mexico must deliver 1,750,000 acre-feet of water to the U.S. from six tributaries every five years, or an average of 350,000 every year. But Mexico is at a high risk of not meeting that deadline. The country still has a balance of more than 1.3 million acre-feet of water it needs to deliver by October 2025.

Sharing the water in the Rio Grand Basin gets broken down like this:

The Mexicans have never really been that great about keeping up their side of the treaty, as evidenced by this chart from the International Boundary and Water Commission tracking deliveries since 1997.

But things had never really reached critical mass as they have now.

Of course, the Biden administration never did a thing to keep the Mexican government up on its obligations – they weren’t really that interested in the troubles of Texas farmers at any given time – so south Texas farmers have been languishing in extreme drought conditions for the past two years without the relief they should have been able to expect from the Mexican water deliveries.

Tensions were already high back in August of last year.

...Already, Texas’ last sugar mill shut down this year due to lack of water, lawmakers from the state have said. Now, officials don’t want the same thing to happen to the state’s citrus industry, concentrated in the Lower Rio Grande Valley, and to other agricultural activities dependent on Mexican water.

Ten lawmakers from a bipartisan congressional delegation urged the U.S. Congress to withhold appropriations of money and assistance to Mexico — outside of funds for border control — until it delivers the needed water.

“Farmers and ranchers across South Texas remain under continued financial strain and could suffer a similar fate as the sugar industry, should Mexico continue withholding water,” the lawmakers wrote in May. “Additionally, the lack of reliable water delivery affects municipalities and threatens the quality of life for many American citizens living along our border.”

They had reached a boiling point in January when Mexico still refused to comply even after negotiating a new agreement just days after Trump’s election. 

It is simply unacceptable that Mexico refuses to comply with the 1944 Water Treaty and owes Texas farmers over one million acre-feet of water. I have heard from farmers in my communities, and Mexico’s inaction has been devastating.

I will continue to lead my colleagues in… pic.twitter.com/qFv78EgCEz

— Rep. Monica De La Cruz (@RepMonicaDLC) January 30, 2025

That was when the Trump administration, encouraged by the Texas delegation with members like Ted Cruz, brought the hammer down. 

Brooke Rollins on Mexico failing to deliver on their water obligations to south Texas under the 1944 Water Treaty: “They don’t have water — and these are 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th generation farmers… for the first time in 100 years, they can’t plant their crops…” pic.twitter.com/0BhR3XZOor

— Major Anthony Jones (@majorbrainpain) March 21, 2025

Rollins announced relief checks to assist the struggling agriculture in the area, but, as Cruz said, they’re not much help when what you need is something else entirely. 

GET OUR DAMN WATER

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) is leaning into a bubbling foreign policy dispute, accusing the Mexican government of violating a 1944 treaty requiring water shipments to U.S. farmers.

In an interview, Cruz advocated for his legislation placing sanctions on Mexico — including cutting U.S. aid by 15% — if the country continued to fail in its agreement to transport water to struggling south Texas farmers.

“South Texas farmers are removing thousands and thousands of acres from production,” Cruz told us. “Farm workers are losing their jobs.”

…Cruz applauded Rollins’ efforts but insisted that “the real answer is not relief checks. The real answer is to get our damn water.”

Citing their own drought-related issues, Mexico’s Claudia Sheinbaum said they were ‘working on it’ even as the five-year term of the treaty was expiring without Mexico being anywhere near meeting their obligations.

…Mexico’s president, Claudia Sheinbaum, said on Thursday before the state department announcement that the water issue was “being dealt with” through the two countries’ boundary and water commission.

“There’s been less water. That’s part of the problem,” she told reporters.

That was enough for Trump to act, and he cut off the extra water to Tijuana.

…The state department said on Thursday it was the first time that the United States had rejected a request by Mexico for special delivery of water, which would have gone to the border city of Tijuana.

“Mexico’s continued shortfalls in its water deliveries under the 1944 water-sharing treaty are decimating American agriculture – particularly farmers in the Rio Grande valley,” the state department’s bureau handling Latin America said in a post on X.

Texas will work closely with the Trump Administration to hold Mexico accountable for their breaches of our long-standing water agreement.

Mexico’s blatant disregard of water obligations must not be allowed to continue. https://t.co/2uxhdS7hrF

— Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) March 21, 2025

One of these days, our neighbors will learn that when Trump is president, their obligations to the United States are just that.

It’s going to be one nasty surprise after another until they do.