http://www.azcentral.com/travel/articles/20121120us-mexico-ok-water-compact.html
Mexico will store some of its share of the river’s annual flow in Lake Mead, which benefits the states by raising lake levels and forestalling potential shortages in times of drought.
In return, Mexico will take a share of water surpluses when available. Conservation groups will buy water rights from Mexican farmers to restore a minimum flow to the lower stretch of the river, which has been effectively dead for decades.
It means that, as early as 2014, the river could flow past Yuma all the way to its delta on the Gulf of California.
That stretch, a lush haven for birds and a place of nutrient infusion for fisheries a century ago, essentially dried up after the construction of Glen Canyon Dam in the 1960s.
“If it were in that (original) condition today, it might well be considered one of the eight wonders of the world,” said Patrick Graham, Arizona director for the Nature Conservancy.
Ecological restoration is important for migratory birds, he said, but also for people living there who lost commercial and recreational fisheries.
“It provides them a source of income and a connection back to that environment that they were dislocated from,” Graham said.
The Nature Conservancy will join the Sonoran Institute, the Environmental Defense Fund and the Mexican conservation group Pronatura Noroeste in raising money to buy 54,000 acre-feet of water to restore the flow to the sea during the agreement’s five-year term.
Mexico will store some of its share of the river’s annual flow in Lake Mead, which benefits the states by raising lake levels and forestalling potential shortages in times of drought.
In return, Mexico will take a share of water surpluses when available. Conservation groups will buy water rights from Mexican farmers to restore a minimum flow to the lower stretch of the river, which has been effectively dead for decades.
It means that, as early as 2014, the river could flow past Yuma all the way to its delta on the Gulf of California.
That stretch, a lush haven for birds and a place of nutrient infusion for fisheries a century ago, essentially dried up after the construction of Glen Canyon Dam in the 1960s.
“If it were in that (original) condition today, it might well be considered one of the eight wonders of the world,” said Patrick Graham, Arizona director for the Nature Conservancy.
Ecological restoration is important for migratory birds, he said, but also for people living there who lost commercial and recreational fisheries.
“It provides them a source of income and a connection back to that environment that they were dislocated from,” Graham said.
The Nature Conservancy will join the Sonoran Institute, the Environmental Defense Fund and the Mexican conservation group Pronatura Noroeste in raising money to buy 54,000 acre-feet of water to restore the flow to the sea during the agreement’s five-year term.