II 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 4253 

To ensure that United States diplomats and officials of the U.S. Section 

of the International Boundary and Water Commission are able to advance efforts seeking compliance by the United Mexican States with 

the 1944 Treaty on Utilization of Waters of the Colorado and Tijuana 

Rivers and of the Rio Grande. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MAY 2, 2024 

Mr. CRUZ (for himself and Mr. CORNYN) introduced the following bill; which 

was read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations 

A BILL 

To ensure that United States diplomats and officials of the 

U.S. Section of the International Boundary and Water 

Commission are able to advance efforts seeking compliance by the United Mexican States with the 1944 Treaty 

on Utilization of Waters of the Colorado and Tijuana 

Rivers and of the Rio Grande. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. FINDINGS. 

4 Congress makes the following findings: 

5 (1) Article 4 of the Treaty on Utilization of 

6 Waters of the Colorado and Tijuana Rivers and of 


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•S 4253 IS

1 the Rio Grande (the ‘‘Treaty’’), signed in 1944 be2 tween the United States and the United Mexican 

3 States (‘‘Mexico’’) requires Mexico to supply to the 

4 United States an amount of water annually that 

5 ‘‘shall not be less, as an average amount in cycles 

6 of five consecutive years, than 350,000 acre-feet 

7 (431,721,000 cubic meters)’’. 

8 (2) Irrigation water shortages in the Lower Rio 

9 Grande Valley have persisted since the 1990s, and 

10 Mexico has exacerbated those conditions by failing to 

11 meet its Treaty obligations. 

12 (3) Mexico is obligated to provide the United 

13 States with 1,750,000 acre-feet of water by October 

14 2025 for the five-year period beginning on October 

15 2020, but as of March 2024 had delivered less than 

16 400,000 acre-feet of water, a rate that forecloses the 

17 possibility of compliance with the Treaty. 

18 (4) A recent report by the Center for North 

19 American Studies estimated that a complete lack of 

20 irrigation water for crop production in the Lower 

21 Rio Grande Valley in 2024 would result in 

22 $495,800,000 in direct revenue loss. 

23 (5) In 2024, Texas’s only sugar mill, the Rio 

24 Grande Valley Sugar Growers Mill, closed due to a 

25 lack of water made available via the Treaty. 


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1 (6) The United States and Mexico have en2 gaged in negotiations over a Minute to the Treaty 

3 to address Mexico’s non-compliance, but as of May 

4 1, 2024, the United States and Mexico have not 

5 reached agreement on it. 

6 SEC. 2. ADVANCING EFFORTS SEEKING COMPLIANCE BY 

7 MEXICO WITH TREATY ON UTILIZATION OF 

8 WATERS OF THE COLORADO AND TIJUANA 

9 RIVERS AND OF THE RIO GRANDE. 

10 The Secretary of State shall use the voice, vote, diplo11 matic capital, and resources of the United States to ensure 

12 that United States diplomats and officials of the U.S. Sec13 tion of the International Boundary and Water Commission 

14 are able to advance efforts seeking compliance by the 

15 United Mexican States with the Treaty on Utilization of 

16 Waters of the Colorado and Tijuana Rivers and of the Rio 

17 Grande, signed at Washington February 3, 1944, and to 

18 establish understandings to provide predictable and reli19 able future deliveries of water by the United Mexican 

20 States. 

Æ 


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