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Water Watch

Water, Water Watch

Is Water a Human Right or a Commodity?

Part of our Water Watch Report Series

Eric Faulken the executive director of the Glen Canyon Institute said, “One or two dry winters can put our water supply in a crisis mode like we experienced in 2022, and that is the real story.” But heavy winter rain and snowfall of 2023 bailed us out of a very dire situation temporarily. However, we watched much of the precious liquid flow right out into the ocean. Never the less it did help wells and reservoirs for a time. As a reminder, Baja’s north coastal region receives 80% of its water requirements from the Colorado River.  Baja relies on the water allotments from the US each year. Seven states including California also draw their allotments from these waters. These next two years are critical because the 1922 River Compact Agreement expires, which has protected our rights under the compact.  Heated negotiation has been ongoing for a number of years. The question is who gets what amount of the lifesaving liquid under the new compact in 2026? In reality it would take six consecutive wet winters to fill the Lake Powell and Lake Mead reservoirs. At the moment the Bureau of Reclamation (USBR,) lives in hope of good winters, and its forecasted allotments are based on this hope that nature will provide for our over consumption. 

 Zack Frankly the executive director of the Utah Rivers Council said, “We are playing with loaded dice. The big winter of 2023 created the misconception that Reservoir levels were going to rebound. But America’s two largest reservoirs are only about 37% full. That is like winning the lottery and still being bankrupt. The Bureau of Reclamation reports that six states and Baja will be under Tier One water shortage, which will be the least severe designation. The State of California is exempt. California does not have to comply until the water crisis enters a tier three condition. A number of conservation groups say that the Bureau keeps overestimating its predictions of its future flows. Yet the Bureau reported that Lake Mead has dropped 15 feet as of July 2024.  To put it into perspective, the level of Lake Mead as of this writing, is just 8 feet above the severe drought levels in July 2022. Hope might not be the best way to prepare for the future.

The Colorado runs through a vast desert on its way to the Gulf of California, however 75 miles of the once mighty river no longer makes it into Baja California. When the River Compact was created in 1922, evaporation loss was not factored. Lake Mead was full and population was very small. It is certainly a major factor today because of the exploding population in the west.  The Bureau now estimates a whopping 10% lost. The allotments must be corrected for the new compact in 2026. These negotiations which will affect 40 million people, agriculture, and Baja California.  The USBR said the lower Basin States plus Baja had finally agreed, but now with this new report of a substantial evaporation loss before allotments, it is back to the negotiations. Upper basin states can draw right from the river, so the fight is that the losses fall to the lower basin states. The lower Basin believes everyone should share equally. 

The US federal government wants the states to agree on one proposal, rather than two, before it installs any new Colorado River water rules. States say they’re working towards consensus, but signs of progress have been few and far between. While the next set of rules won’t go into effect until 2026, the federal government wants to get the ball rolling as soon as possible. The Biden Administration is asking states to agree on one proposal before the end of 2024. Jim Lochhead, one of Colorado’s top water negotiators said, “I think the fundamental lesson is that we’re much better off controlling our own destiny than putting our future in the hands of nine justices on the United States Supreme Court who don’t understand Western water law, and who don’t understand life in the West,” 

 What might not be known by US tax payers is that the states of Arizona, California, Nevada and Baja have been paid to reduce their water usage.  The federal government set aside $4 Billion for Colorado River work, and a portion of that has been directed specifically at programs that help farmers to reduce their water use. The agreement, calls for the federal government to pay about $1.2 billion to irrigation districts, cities and Native American tribes in the three states, if they temporarily use less water. Since 2021 Mexico has been paid $65 million dollars in compensation. 

Water is a “Hot Commodity.” The Colorado River is one of the most valuable resources in the United States. Wall Street sees dollar signs in a future drought crisis, as there are ways ready to make money from the misfortune of others. Water wasn’t always thought of as a commodity that could be bought and sold. Water was at one time considered a human right. The 1992 Dublin Principles declared water an “economic good” for the first time and stated that trading water as a commodity is the most efficient means of managing scarce water resources. However, this directly threatens the fundamental notion that water is a human right, “to be available to all people regardless of their income or economic ability.” 

There are literally billions of dollars at stake and Wall Street sees what was actually seen 20 years ago, that water would become the new oil in the 21st century. They are the largest land owner in the Grand Valley, Colorado which gives them river water rights. If Wall Street is betting that there will be another drought on its way, and is backing their speculation with millions of dollars, it may be wise to stay informed. 

References:

~ Gringo Gazette:, Water Watch Series begins: ggnorth.com/2021/08/august-16-2021-edition

~ Binational Waters  

~ Flow: For the Love of Water- Can you imagine the power of a Water Cartel? Melissa Sevigny, July, 2024

~ KUNC, Western Water News, Here’s what you need to know, Alex Hager, May 9, 2024 

~ The New York Times: Colorado River States Are, Christopher Flavelle, January, 2024

~ Mojo Adventures Youtube channel

Editor’s Note: Martina has researched and authored 13 Water Watch articles since 2021. She is a columnist for Baja Bound as the Baja StoryTeller and is the author of Dust in My Sandals, Tales from a Baja Traveler in which she shares decades of her travels up and down the peninsula. See our ad and order today for a gift that keeps on giving.

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 Articles, Breaking News, Water, Water Watch

A Stark Warning of Water Cuts: A Water Watch Editorial

It seems an act of sheer folly to write about staying vigilant in our water usage after two relatively wet winters here in Baja California. It would seem the populus has fallen under a spell which suggests there is no longer a water issue in our future. But finally, a trickle of information was buried in the May 6th issue of this paper in the Que Pasa in Baja?, entitled “Baja California Faces Severe Colorado River Water Cuts.” It was only a matter of time for the alarm about water to be raised once again. The concern about water and the lack of it was never resolved; it just went underground with the rain of the last wet winters.

The Permanent Forum on Binational Waters issued the stark warning. “The upcoming cut in Colorado River water allocation to Mexico in 2024 will exceed the annual water usage of all Baja California cities reliant on this source.” This will mean about a 33% cut. It went on to say that the 2024 reductions of Baja’s primary water source have been severe, “the most severe will be in 2025, when a new administration is in charge.” This refers to the US elections in November. The 1944 Treaty protecting Colorado River water to Baja will expire in 2026. Yet the push for “progress” is in full gear around the state.
In the January 15th Gringo Gazette front page article sighted that the new governor, Marina Pila, attended the World Economic Forum in Switzerland where she stated that her primary goal was to showcase Baja California as “an ideal investment destination.” There was a long list of issues to be addressed such as economic development, security and sustainability. Last year the new governor announced her pet mega project for the wine country.  An “artificial town” with the theme of a medieval Italian village as a residential community and tourist complex with shops and lodging. 

The June 3rd paper had headlines of a “premier entertainment hub, boasting a capacity of 10,000 people for top-tier events,” including 300 bathrooms. How they can claim to be “eco-friendly” is absurd. June 14th Gringo Gazette was filled with articles promising happy tourist paradise and more jobs. One such is set to “Transform Ensenada’s Port Area,” and a ferry service from Ensenada to San Diego is expected in the next five months. Claiming to “boost” Baja’s image is touted as the “Punta Piedra’s New Misión Project.” It will feature 70 residences with “advanced technology and water-saving systems.” All of this is in alignment with the government’s blessings to have Baja California “attracting capital to the state.” It should be asked who is promising abundant water flowing for the generations of investors?  

Since I began investigating this issue over the last two decades it has become obvious to me that people’s minds tend to default to the idea that building desal plants will be our savior. Always after receiving these disturbing water facts there is always a casual wave of the hand, “Well, build a desal plant.” And sure enough, the July 1st front-page article by Archer Ingram, Rosarito’s New Desalination Plant Gets Green Light. I was amused by the subtitle, “if its ever completed” which is probably close to the truth. Ingram did a good job giving us all the ins and outs of the politics and costs of building it to a tune of half a billion dollars. But not addressed was the cost of operation and increased prices to the users. It wasn’t stated how long it would take to build the plant after all the talking stops. Given the timely nature of Rosarito’s water needs for development it is an important question. Will there be enough water to build it? This one plant would not furnish Rosarito’s growing needs and the impact on the ocean is a very real issue.

Oliver Quintero, Publisher of the Gringo Gazette, stated the land had already been purchased years ago for the first failed project which ended in litigation, the site is in Ejido Mazatlán, right next to the CFE thermoelectrical plant.

Water cuts are here. Water is our most precious thing we have. We waste a lot of it. Learning to conserve is wise for any future planning. To check out the water facts and history go to the Gringo Gazette webpage, ggnorth.com. Scroll down to August 16 and 30, 2021 where the Water Watch series begins.  Be sure and check out the YouTube channel Mojo Adventures for current boots-on-the-ground updates on the Colorado River as we head into 2026.

Editor’s Note: Martina is a freelance writer and journalist. She is the creator of the Water Watch series as a community service. She is the author of Dust in My Sandals, Tales from a Baja Traveler. See our ad and dive into her true adventures and wonders of Baja California.

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 Articles, Water, Water Watch

Water Watch 2022! Part 2

I stood on a hilltop with Cornelio Zapata, a 30 year resident of La Misión. We look down on the estuary and the la Misión River. He shakes his head and says with deep concern, “I have never seen the river so low. It use to run all the way out to the ocean and there were clear pure swimming places. Now it is green with algae.” His small comfortable home was once the only dwelling on the hill. He has had at one time a vast nearly 360 degree view of the ocean and all the way to the eastern mountains. Now it is surrounded by huge multilevel homes all needing water. He is experiencing for the first time a new water restriction.  Senor Zapata added that his good friend, who grew the sweetest white corn, can’t grow it this year; his pump can no longer reach the aquifer which is now too low. While La Misión has always had a natural supply of water from the mountain region and aquifers, it is being threatened. The major cities of Tijuana to Ensenada are impacted by the Colorado River allotment cutbacks which were reported in Part 1 of Water Watch 2022.  

Local Reports and Solutions for 2022 Historically people act when motivated to do so. The question is will we be forced into this new reality? Will it be a wakeup to learn we have outgrown Baja’s natural resources, as well as the Colorado River allotment of 1944? Senior Zapata is not the only one in La Misión with water issues. Several new mega houses were built next to his home and neither was given access to water by La Misión Water Company. These homes will rely on the water trucks to chug up the hill. It is reported that the truck owners have their own private wells where they fill up their trucks. Many of the easy sources dried up this year. 

John Stadelmann, The President of the Board of Directors for ten years of La Misión Water Company addresses this in his newly released video.  He is proud to announce that water delivery to the homes in La Misión has been “spectacular,” compared to CSPT delivery records in Tijuana and Ensenada. CSPT has frequent break downs and repairs, and “they just don’t have enough water to go around.” Mr. Stadelmann goes on to say that it is important to know the Water Board operates on a license with CONAGUA, the federal water board for all of Mexico. These licenses have 10 year duration, but La Misión’s expired in 2018. Given the fact that high powered lawyers have worked hard to resolve this, the license is still not renewed four years later. “There is a rumor, Stadelmann shared, “between water experts and lawyers that CONAGUA has an intent to close the small private wells to make it possible to give the big municipal suppliers like CSPT of Tijuana and Ensenada, more water volume to distribute.” The La Misión Water Company will fight to keep their water rights.

Mr. Stadelmann continued, “The second more immediate and larger threat comes from within our very community.” CONAGUA, dictates just how much water can be pump from the aquifer each year. Consider the fact that we are able to pump 10 million gallons per year! All the rules on usage per household are driven by this limit.” He said that in 2018 the community rarely used more than two-thirds of the total, and were safely within the limit. But in 2021 it shot up to 82%; at this rate the usage will exceed the license by 2024. Stadelmann warns, “If the abuses continue CONAGUA can shut down our well. It would be an utter catastrophe.” He points a finger directly at the issue of the increase in homes being built and the thoughtless chronic over users. The water is not for swimming pools, fountains, or landscapes. “These chronic over users could be the cause of our license to be repealed…The message is simple, the solutions are not. We all must use a whole lot less if we expect to continue to live here. It requires education, reeducation, some technology and lots of discipline. We are in it together.” These words apply to every coastal community in this state.

Local Reports and long time resident of Bajamar, Ruth Rockwell, says that they have had to close 9 holes of the golf course. Residents in Ensenada are out of city water for a week or more.  Punta Del Mar uses their gray water for landscaping. San Antonio Del Mar is attempting to put together a plan to become self-sufficient, and not rely on the government’s delivery system. John Stadelmann stresses that the water trucks will have to travel to the high plateau and fill from the catch basin which is meant to recharge the underground sources. The increase in rates can’t be far behind. It is skillful to question any new developers as to how they will address their own water and wastewater issues. It isn’t how beautiful the future home may appear, but will there be water to flush the toilet. 

Real Solutions should have begun two decades ago. Now it is a rush to catch up, if and when the issue seems real enough in people’s minds. Humanity along the Colorado River has literally drunk the once mighty Colorado dry. Drilling deeper and desal plants are future timelines with major issues. Be careful falling into false hope; be part of the solution and not part of the problem.  If there is a first most important step it would be to appreciate and develop gratitude for the water every time we use it. Realize how many times a day we need it. Appreciation can create the first abatement to our overuse. The next step, get serious about the water declines. We can act now from the comfort of our homes. Create appreciation by taking a few minutes to watch the two videos below. Educate yourself and look for personal solutions. Support the front line workers and begin to understand that we are all interdependent and share this extraordinary water network. 

Martina is a Freelance writer, see her ad for ordering her travel book, Dust In My Sandals

Contact Information:

Margarita Diaz Directora Proyecto Fronterizo

664-630-0590, Cell 664-188-62-36

margarita@pfea.org   www.pfea.org

John Stadelmann link for La Misión

Videos of our Water’s 86 mile journey to our homes

www.cea.gob.mx/arct.html

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 Articles, Water, Water Watch

Water Watch 2022

Water Watch for 2022 is a portent of times to come. I first began writing about where the water for Baja California came from in 2007. There were warnings even then. It was said that the 21st century would be about water as the 20th century has been about oil. More recently you will find on the Gringo Gazette website a two part Water Watch, August for 2021: Part 1, “Our Water Supply is Not Unlimited,” informed the readers that 86% of our water comes from the Colorado River and the amazing feat of engineering that went into bringing the water down from the Colorado River. Part 2 of Water Watch warned of the cuts to our allotment from the Colorado River that would be coming in 2022. The cuts are here now. There is no report of any new progress to avert more shortages, and it would seem most people are still unaware of the critical facts.

In April of this year, San Antonio Del Mar held a community workshop on their issue of water and sewage treatment. While their main focus was the toxicity of the ocean waters that still take the run off wastewater from Tijuana, Margarita Diaz, the Directora Proyecto Fronterizo, was there to give a comprehensive overview of what is happening with the water for Baja. Her report was dismal.  The facts laid out in the first Water Watch articles last year have worsened today. These facts are based on the continuation of a 22-year drought, extreme heat in the west, agriculture usage, and over development. 

Margarita is a thirty year Water Protector veteran, cofounder of the nonprofit; Proyecto Fronterizo de Educación Ambiental A.C, PFEA, for awareness has had a rough go of it. She is a one woman visionary attempting to move a stagnate consciousness of the people. She has been met with a lack of interest; however, more recently, she is facing unfriendly and harsh resistance. She presented her facts with impassioned clarity to the small community turn out. Her opening statement that day was having heard from her colleagues in Utah. This is a state which is part of the Upper River Basin and it is a beneficiary of water from the once mighty river. It was a disconcerting laugh as she explained, “They are really stressed. And that made me think if they are stress up there, how stressed should I be?”  She held the microphone and pointed to the charts, “The cut are here now!” 

She reported that there is no longer any underground water for the Tecate Brewery which uses a huge amount of water in producing beer, and continued, “At this time due to the water cuts, Mexicali farmers are selling their water to Tijuana as the city’s population continues to grow. Margarita’s frustration level is pretty high when most recently she faced the men of CEPT and was told, “Don’t worry we have the Colorado and they have to give us the water.” And yet another insightful comment, “Don’t worry we have the ocean.” This fiery Mexicana rose up to her 5’ 4”stature and asked them point blank, “So, you are planning on drinking the ocean?” They had no response.

As Margarita pointed out, Lake Mead is a barometer for Baja’s water cuts. If the level should drop below a certain point, no water can be issued because there would not be enough water to turn the massive turbines that produce electricity at Hoover Dam; one of the largest hydropower plants in the United States. The 1944 treaty gave Baja an allotment of water, but was amended in 2017 dealing with the decline in US reservoirs. 2022 is the first year of the cuts and will automatically be reduced further for Arizona, Nevada, California and Baja. Whether or not you follow the Climate Change as a factor of life, you don’t have to be a scientist to know that if you leave a bowl of water out in the hot sun it will evaporate.  The Colorado River is like a big bowl of water that runs through the desert. The intensification of summer heat in the west creates a more rapid increase of evaporation. Rain and snow pack reductions each year are not filing the reservoirs and have not for a very long time. One spokes person said that it would take 4 years of rains and heavy winter snow packs to bring water levels back to sustainable. One of the reports Margarita shared came from the Utah Rivers Council who put it in laypersons terms. “The Colorado River is like a household income source and the reservoirs are like a huge savings account. For the last 20 years, the household’s income has declined and the residents of the house have been living off their savings. Yet some house residents don’t realize they have been slowly draining their savings account.” After Margarita finished telling us like it is, she apologized and wished she could give us some fast fix. Carol Clary, water activist and resident of San Antonio reported, “The reaction in the community to the workshop was total shock about the coming scarcity.” At this moment in time no one really knows what is going to turn this around locally, but waiting for Mexico to build a number of saltwater desal plants or being  “hopeful” that it rains is looking foolish in the face of the reality of the present situation.

A recent report in the New York Times announces a “formal declaration” of the water crisis…as hundreds of thousands more people have moved to the regions. After years of signs, finally a declaration! With groundwater rapidly depleting, California has no contingency plan for a persistent drought and it would seem Baja California doesn’t either.

Since there has been an unprecedented mistrust of the news media of late, some people use the words “conspiracy” or “fake news” for anything that makes them nervous or they disagree with. Facts are facts and how people process the facts is the real issue. In our case here in Baja, one only needs to look with their own eyes as levels in the reservoirs dropping or talk to the local farmers whose water pumps are not deep enough this year to reach the vanishing aquifers. Famiglietti went on to report that “parts of California have already depleted their primary reserves of groundwater and are now drilling deeper – tapping into prehistoric reserves that cannot be readily replaced. As these prehistoric aquifers are mined, they suffer irreversible structural damage.” Vance Kennedy, a retired research hydrologist for the Central Valley clearly states in a Mother Jones interview, “What I see going on is a future disaster…you are removing water that’s been there a long, long time. We are mining water that cannot be readily replaced.” 

 Man has never had much of a consideration for the Earth from which they extract their resources. Humanity learns the hard way about their planet that sustains them. In addressing Baja’s water allotment from the Colorado River, California is setting the precedence for cutting water to agriculture. Living in Baja we need to keep watch on what is happening north of us, because whatever happens up there will come down the pipeline to us, euphemistically speaking. It is unlikely we will hear anything about what is happening in Baja unless we do our research.  We don’t have easy access to local information from authorities as to what they are doing or not doing.  Margareta clearly spelled out that the local offices “are not talking to one another and the right hand doesn’t know what the left hand is doing.” All along the coast south of Rosarito there are 11 new condo developments underway and Primo Tapia has two massive housing projects; one is clearing a whole mountain above Primo Tapia and another is actually attempting to build on sand dunes south of town. If we are questioning, we have to wonder where the water is coming from to provide these developers’ needs for water to build the cement and concrete blocks constructions. More importantly where is the sustainable water flow to the households once built? Nevertheless, development continues “as if” there will be water for thousands of new homes in the foreseeable future. Baja California is a passive player in how water will be allocated from the Colorado’s complicated system of delivery. At this time, if it gets rough, it appears that we are holding out our cups expecting to have our kind neighbors to the north share. Historically the United States does not have a good track record keeping its treaty agreements with its own Native Americans.  Should our spigots run dry, it is questionable that our 1944 Treaty with them is much of a safeguard. 

Take the Tour! Our Water’s Impressive 87-mile journey to our homes  

www.cea.gob.mx/arct.html

For Updated Water information and Group Presentation

Margarita Diaz Directora Proyecto Fronterizo

margarita@pfea.org

Editors Note: Martina is a freelance writer, journalist and author of Dust in My Sandals, Tales from a Baja Traveler. See our ad and order today!

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