International Boundary And Water Commission
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The International Boundary and Water Commission ( es, links=no, Comisión Internacional de Límites y Aguas) is an international body created by the
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
and
Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...
in 1889 to apply the rules for determining the location of their international boundary when meandering rivers transferred tracts of land from one bank to the other, as established under the Convention of November 12, 1884. The organization was created as the International Boundary Commission by the Convention of 1889 between the United States and Mexico. It was given its present name under the 1944 "Treaty relating to the Utilization of Waters of the Colorado and Tijuana Rivers and of the Rio Grande". Under these agreements, the IBWC has a U.S. section and a Mexican section, headquartered in the adjoining cities of
El Paso, Texas El Paso (; "the pass") is a city in and the county seat, seat of El Paso County, Texas, El Paso County in the western corner of the U.S. state of Texas. The 2020 population of the city from the United States Census Bureau, U.S. Census Bureau w ...
, and
Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua Ciudad () is the Spanish Language, Spanish word for City Ciudad may also refer to: *La Ciudad (archaeological site), Hohokam ruins in Phoenix, Arizona *La Ciudad, district of Durango City, Mexico *''La ciudad'', novel by Mario Levrero 1970 *La Ciu ...
. The U.S. section is administered by the Department of State, and the Mexican part by the Secretariat of Foreign Relations.


Administration

Some of the rights and obligations administered by the IBWC include: *Distribution between the two countries of the waters of the
Rio Grande The Rio Grande ( and ), known in Mexico as the Río Bravo del Norte or simply the Río Bravo, is one of the principal rivers (along with the Colorado River) in the southwestern United States and in northern Mexico. The length of the Rio G ...
and of the
Colorado River The Colorado River ( es, Río Colorado) is one of the principal rivers (along with the Rio Grande) in the Southwestern United States and northern Mexico. The river drains an expansive, arid drainage basin, watershed that encompasses parts of ...
*Regulation and conservation of the waters of the Rio Grande for their use by the two countries by joint construction, operation, and maintenance of international storage
dam A dam is a barrier that stops or restricts the flow of surface water or underground streams. Reservoirs created by dams not only suppress floods but also provide water for activities such as irrigation, human consumption, industrial use ...
s and
reservoirs A reservoir (; from French ''réservoir'' ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam. Such a dam may be either artificial, built to store fresh water or it may be a natural formation. Reservoirs can be created in a number of ways, including control ...
and plants for generating
hydroelectric energy Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies one sixth of the world's electricity, almost 4500 TWh in 2020, which is more than all other renewable sources combined an ...
at the dams *Protection of lands along the river from floods by
levee A levee (), dike (American English), dyke (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English), embankment, floodbank, or stop bank is a structure that is usually soil, earthen and that often runs parallel (geometry), parallel to ...
and floodway projects *Solution of border sanitation and other border water quality problems *Preservation of the Rio Grande and Colorado River as the international boundary *Demarcation of the land boundary The U.S. and Mexican commissioners meet at least weekly, alternating the place of meetings, and are in almost daily contact with one another. Each section maintains its own engineering staff, a secretary, and such legal advisers and other assistants as it deems necessary.


The border and water treaties

The
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ( es, Tratado de Guadalupe Hidalgo), officially the Treaty of Peace, Friendship, Limits, and Settlement between the United States of America and the United Mexican States, is the peace treaty that was signed on 2 ...
of 2 February 1848 fixed the international boundary between El Paso – Ciudad Juárez and the
Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico ( es, Golfo de México) is an oceanic basin, ocean basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, largely surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of ...
. The Gadsden Purchase Treaty of 30 December 1853 extended the southern boundary of
New Mexico ) , population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano) , seat = Santa Fe , LargestCity = Albuquerque , LargestMetro = Tiguex , OfficialLang = None , Languages = English, Spanish ( New Mexican), Navajo, Ker ...
and
Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...
southwards to enable the United States to construct a railroad to the west coast along a southern route and to resolve a question arising from the 1848 Treaty as to the location of the southern boundary of New Mexico. Temporary commissions were formed by these boundary treaties to perform the first joint mission of the governments of the United States and Mexico, which was to survey and demarcate the boundary on the ground in accordance with the treaties. Another temporary commission was created by the 1852 Boundary Convention (29 July), which surveyed and increased the number of monuments marking the land boundary westward from El Paso and Ciudad Juárez. As settlements sprang up along the boundary rivers and the adjoining lands began to be developed for agriculture in the late 19th century, questions arose as to the location of the boundary when the rivers changed their course and transferred tracts of land from one side of the river to the other. The two governments, under the 1884 Border Convention (12 November), adopted certain rules designed to deal with such questions. By the
1889 Border Convention The International Boundary and Water Commission ( es, links=no, Comisión Internacional de Límites y Aguas) is an international body created by the United States and Mexico in 1889 to apply the rules for determining the location of their intern ...
(1 March), the two governments created the International Boundary Commission (IBC), to consist of a United States section and a Mexican section. The IBC was charged with the application of the rules of the 1884 Convention, for the settlement of questions arising as to the location of the boundary when the rivers changed their course. That convention was modified by the Banco Convention of 20 March 1905 to retain the Rio Grande and the Colorado River as the boundary. The 1906 Boundary Waters Convention (21 May) provided for the distribution between the United States and Mexico of the waters of the Rio Grande above
Fort Quitman Fort Quitman was a United States Army installation on the Rio Grande in Texas, south of present-day Sierra Blanca, 20 miles southeast of McNary in southern Hudspeth County. The fort, now a ghost town, was named for former Mississippi Governor J ...
,
Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...
, for the 143-km (89-mile) international boundary reach of the Rio Grande through the El Paso–Juárez Valley. This convention allotted to Mexico annually of the waters of the Rio Grande to be delivered in accordance with a monthly schedule at the headgate to Mexico's
Acequia An acequia () or séquia () is a community-operated watercourse used in Spain and former Spanish colonies in the Americas for irrigation. Particularly in Spain, the Andes, northern Mexico, and the modern-day American Southwest particularly n ...
Madre just above Ciudad Juárez. To facilitate such deliveries, the United States constructed, at its expense, the
Elephant Butte Dike Elephant Butte Dam or Elephant Butte Dike, originally Engle Dam, is a concrete gravity dam on the Rio Grande near Truth or Consequences, New Mexico. The dam impounds Elephant Butte Reservoir, which is used mainly for agriculture but also provid ...
in its territory. The convention includes the proviso that in case of extraordinary drought or serious accident to the irrigation system in the United States, the amount of water delivered to the Mexican canal shall be diminished in the same proportion as the water delivered to lands under the irrigation system in the United States downstream of Elephant Butte Dike. In the 1933 Border Convention (1 February), the two governments agreed to jointly construct, operate, and maintain, through the IBC, the
Rio Grande Rectification Project The International Boundary and Water Commission ( es, links=no, Comisión Internacional de Límites y Aguas) is an international body created by the United States and Mexico in 1889 to apply the rules for determining the location of their intern ...
, which straightened and stabilized the 249-km (155-mile) river boundary through the highly developed El Paso–Juárez Valley. The project further provided for the control of the river's floods through this valley. Numerous parcels of land (174) were transferred between the two countries during the construction period, 1935 – 1938. At the end, each nation had ceded an equal area of land () to the other. The
Treaty relating to the utilization of waters of the Colorado and Tijuana Rivers and of the Rio Grande The International Boundary and Water Commission ( es, links=no, Comisión Internacional de Límites y Aguas) is an international body created by the United States and Mexico in 1889 to apply the rules for determining the location of their intern ...
of 3 February 1944 distributed between the two countries the waters of the Rio Grande from Fort Quitman to the Gulf of Mexico, and the waters of the Colorado River. Of the waters of the Rio Grande, the treaty allocates to Mexico: *All of the waters reaching the main channel of the Rio Grande from the San Juan and Alamo Rivers, including the return flows from the lands irrigated from those two rivers *Two-thirds of the flow in the main channel of the Rio Grande from the measured
Rio Conchos The Río Conchos (Conchos River) is a large river in the Mexican state of Chihuahua. It joins the Río Bravo del Norte (known in the United States as the Rio Grande) at the town of Ojinaga, Chihuahua. Description The Rio Conchos is the main rive ...
, Rio San Diego,
Rio San Rodrigo The Río San Rodrigo is a stream in the state of Coahuila, Mexico, and is a tributary of the Rio Grande. The Rio San Rodrigo enters the Rio Grande (''Rio Bravo del Norte'' in Mexico) at Rio Grande river kilometer 834, at El Moral, Coahuila and abo ...
, Rio Escondido, and Rio Salado, and the Arroyo de las Vacas, subject to certain provisions *One-half of all other flows occurring in the main channel of the Rio Grande downstream from Fort Quitman The treaty allocates to the United States: *All of the waters reaching the main channel of the Rio Grande from the Pecos and Devils Rivers, Goodenough Spring, and Alamito, Terlingua, San Felipe and Pinto Creeks. *One-third of the flow reaching the main channel of the river from the six named measured tributaries from Mexico, and provides that this third shall not be less, as an average amount in cycles of five consecutive years, than annually *One-half of all other flows occurring in the main channel of the Rio Grande downstream from Fort Quitman The 1944 treaty further provided for the two governments to jointly construct, operate, and maintain on the main channel of the Rio Grande the dams required for the conservation, storage, and regulation of the greatest quantity of the annual flow of the river to enable each country to make optimum use of its allotted waters. The treaty also provides that of the waters of the Colorado River, Mexico is to receive: *A guaranteed annual quantity of to be delivered in accordance with schedules formulated in advance by Mexico within specified limitations *Any other waters arriving at the Mexican points of diversion under certain understandings To enable diversion of Mexico's allotted waters, the treaty provided for the construction by Mexico of a main diversion structure in the Colorado River, below the point where the California–Baja California land boundary line intersects the river. It also provided for the construction at Mexico's expense of such works as may be needed in the United States to protect its lands from such floods and seepage as might result from the construction and operation of the diversion structure. In the 1944 treaty, the two governments agreed to give preferential attention to the solution of all border sanitation problems. This treaty entrusts the IBWC (the renamed International Boundary Commission of the 1889 Convention) with the application of its terms, the regulation and exercise of the rights and obligations which the two governments assumed thereunder, and the settlement of all disputes to which its observance and execution may give rise. The treaty also provides that the IBWC study, investigate, and report to the governments on such hydroelectric facilities as the IBWC finds should be built at the international storage dams and on such flood control works, other than those specified in the treaty, that the IBWC finds should be built on the boundary rivers, the estimated cost thereof, the part to be built by each government, and to be operated and maintained by each through its section of the IBWC. Under the terms of the 1944 treaty, the two governments reached agreement for the solution of the international problem of the salinity of the Lower Colorado River (30 August 1973), and the IBWC submitted and the two governments approved "Recommendations for the Solution of the Border Sanitation Problems" (24 September 1979). The
Chamizal Convention The Chamizal dispute was a Rio Grande Border Disputes, border conflict over around on the Mexico–United States border between El Paso, Texas, and Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua. It was caused by a shift in the Rio Grande, as a survey presented in ...
of 29 August 1963 resolved the nearly 100-year-old boundary problem at El Paso and Ciudad Juárez. Known as the
Chamizal Dispute The Chamizal dispute was a border conflict over around on the Mexico–United States border between El Paso, Texas, and Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua. It was caused by a shift in the Rio Grande, as a survey presented in 1852 marked differences betw ...
, this involved some of territory that were transferred from the south to the north bank of the Rio Grande by movement of the river during the latter part of the 19th century. By this convention, the two governments gave effect to a 1911 arbitration award under 1963 conditions. The convention provided for the relocation by the IBWC of the 7 km (4.4 miles) of the channel of the Rio Grande so as to transfer a net amount of 176.92 ha (437.18 acres) from the north to the south side of the river. U.S. President
Lyndon Johnson Lyndon Baines Johnson (; August 27, 1908January 22, 1973), often referred to by his initials LBJ, was an American politician who served as the 36th president of the United States from 1963 to 1969. He had previously served as the 37th vice ...
met Mexican President
Adolfo López Mateos Adolfo López Mateos (; 26 May 1909 – 22 September 1969) was a Mexican politician who served as President of Mexico from 1958 to 1964. Beginning his political career as a campaign aide of José Vasconcelos during his run for president, Lóp ...
in El Paso on 24 September 1964 to commemorate the ratification of the Chamizal Convention. The 1970 Boundary Treaty (23 November) resolved all pending boundary differences and provided for maintaining the Rio Grande and the Colorado River as the international boundary. The Rio Grande was re-established as the boundary throughout its 2,019-km (1,254 mile) limitrophe section. The treaty includes provisions for restoring and preserving the character of the Rio Grande as the international boundary where that character has been lost, to minimize changes in the channel, and to resolve problems of sovereignty that might arise due to future changes in the channel of the Rio Grande. It provides for procedures designed to avoid the loss of territory by either country incident to future changes in the river's course due to causes other than lateral movement, incident to eroding one of its banks and depositing alluvium on the opposite bank. This treaty, too, charged the IBWC with carrying out its provisions. The
Boundary Treaty of 1970 The Boundary Treaty of 1970 is a treaty between the United States and Mexico that settled all outstanding boundary disputes and uncertainties related to the Rio Grande (Río Bravo del Norte) border between them. The most significant dispute re ...
transferred of Mexican territory to the U.S., in areas near
Presidio A presidio ( en, jail, fortification) was a fortified base established by the Spanish Empire around between 16th century, 16th and 18th century, 18th centuries in areas in condition of their control or influence. The presidios of Captaincy Genera ...
and Hidalgo, Texas, to build flood-control channels. In exchange, the U.S. ceded to Mexico, including five parcels near Presidio, the Horcon Tract containing the little town of Rio Rico, Texas, and Beaver Island near
Roma, Texas Roma is a city in Starr County, Texas, United States. There were 11,561 people at the 2020 census. The city is located along the Rio Grande, across from Ciudad Miguel Alemán in Tamaulipas, Mexico. The city is also popularly known as Roma-Los ...
. The last of these transfers occurred in 1977. On November 24, 2009, the U.S. ceded six islands in the Rio Grande to Mexico, totaling . At the same time, Mexico ceded three islands and two cuts to the U.S., totaling . This transfer, which had been pending for 20 years, was the first application of Article III of the ''1970 Boundary Treaty''. In recent years, the IBWC has been criticized as an institutional anachronism, bypassed by modern social, environmental, and political issues. The U.S. section has been described as secretive, beholden to special interests, and indifferent to environmental problems. The State Department has attempted to distance itself from responsibility for the U.S. section, even disclaiming jurisdiction, notwithstanding numerous statutes to the contrary. Critics, including the agency's employees, say poor leadership has led to deteriorating levees, dams, and water-treatment facilities. There has long been tension between the two countries over the quality of Colorado River waters flowing to Mexico, including the salinity of irrigation waters discharged into the river at the southern boundary. In 1970, Mexican President Luis Echeverria threatened to bring the salinity dispute to the International Court of Justice. After intense negotiations, the matter was settled by delsalinization works pursuant to Minute 242, International Boundary and Water Commission, United States and Mexico, TIAS 7708 (1973).Mark Feldman Oral History, Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training at p. 38 https://adst.org/OH%20TOCs/Feldman.Mark.pdf?swcfpc=1


See also

*
Title 22 of the Code of Federal Regulations CFR Title 22 – Foreign Relations is one of fifty titles comprising the United States Code of Federal Regulations In the law of the United States, the ''Code of Federal Regulations'' (''CFR'') is the codification of the general and permanent ...
*
International Boundary Wastewater Treatment Plant The International Wastewater Treatment Plant (IWTP) is a plant developed by the International Boundary and Water Commission (IBWC) in the South Bay, San Diego, South Bay area of San Diego, California. Construction began on a 75-acre site, west of S ...
developed by the IBWC * U.S.-Mexico border for a detailed treatment of the various conventions and treaties overseen by the IBWC *
Colorado River Compact The Colorado River Compact is a 1922 agreement among the seven southwest U.S. states that fall within the Colorado River drainage basin. The pact governs the allocation of the river's water rights. The agreement, originally proposed by attorn ...
*
Falcon International Reservoir Falcon International Reservoir ( es, Embalse Internacional Falcón), commonly called Falcon Lake, is a reservoir on the Rio Grande 40 miles (64 km) southeast of Laredo, Texas, United States, and Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, Mexico. The huge lake ...
*
Amistad Reservoir Amistad Reservoir ( es, Presa Amistad) is a reservoir on the Rio Grande at its confluence with the Devils River northwest of Del Rio, Texas. The lake is bounded by Val Verde County on the United States side of the international border and by th ...
*
New River (California) New River may refer to: Waterways Caribbean * Nuevo River (Puerto Rico) * Rio Nuevo (Jamaica) Europe * New River (Fens), a man-made watercourse in the English Fenlands * New River (London), a man-made watercourse in Hertfordshire and L ...
U.S.-Mexico river, reported as most polluted in North America


References


Sources

* *Robert J. McCarthy, Executive Authority, Adaptive Treaty Interpretation, and the International Boundary and Water Commission, U.S.-Mexico, 14-2 U. Denv. Water L. Rev. 197(Spring 2011) (also available for free download at https://ssrn.com/abstract=1839903).


External links


Official site – United States

Official site – Mexico

Bibliography on Water Resources and International Law
Peace Palace Library
Comprehensive history and critique of IBWCArchival films from the IBWC collection
on the
Texas Archive of the Moving Image The Texas Archive of the Moving Image (TAMI) is an independent 501(c)(3) organization founded in 2002 by film archivist and University of Texas at Austin professor Caroline Frick, PhD. TAMI's mission is to preserve, study, and exhibit Texas film h ...
{{Authority control 1889 establishments in the United States 1889 establishments in Mexico Colorado River Intergovernmental organizations established by treaty Mexico–United States border Mexico–United States relations Organizations established in 1889 Rio Grande United States Department of State Boundary commissions