November 20, 2012

 Washington, D.C.- Nevada Senator Harry Reid issued the following statement after Interior Secretary Salazar joined with U.S. and Mexico delegations in San Diego, California, at an official signing ceremony of Minute 319 to the 1944 Treaty with Mexico – a binational agreement that will guide management of the Colorado River between now and 2017:   

“The Colorado River is southern Nevada’s lifeblood and I applaud the U.S. and Mexico delegations as well as Secretary Salazar for forging this historic agreement,” said Reid.  “Approximately 90 percent of southern Nevada’s water comes from the Colorado River and is stored in Lake Mead and Minute 319 will help to significantly improve the river’s management for the next five years. Today’s agreement benefits Nevada and the entire Colorado River Basin by facilitating water conservation, improving the management of limited water supplies, and keeping more water in Lake Mead through water conservation in Mexico.”

According to the U.S. Department of the Interior, the five-year agreement provides for a variety of cooperative actions between the United States and Mexico. Elements of the agreement include:

•    Implementing efforts to enhance water infrastructure and promote sharing, storing, and conserving water as needed during both shortages and surpluses;
•    Establishing proactive basin operations by applying water delivery reductions when Lake Mead reservoir conditions are low in order to deter more severe reductions in the future;
•    Extending humanitarian measures from a 2010 agreement, Minute 318, to allow Mexico to defer delivery of a portion of its Colorado River allotment while it continues to make repairs to earthquake-damaged infrastructure;
•    Establishing a program of Intentionally Created Mexican Allocation (ICMA) whereby Mexico could temporarily reduce its order of Colorado River water, allowing that water to be delivered to Mexico in the future; and
•    Promoting the ecological health of the Colorado River Delta.

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