Presentation at the TWCA mid year conference 2012 www.twca.org
Carlos Peña, Principal Engineer Operations
International Boundary and Water Commission,
United States Section
social pharmacy d-pharm 1st year by Pragati K. Mahajan
USIBWC Update on the International Waters of the Rio Grande
1. “USIBWC Update on the International Waters of the Rio Grande”
presented at
Texas Water Conservation Association
on
June 14, 2012
by
Carlos Peña, Principal Engineer Operations
International Boundary and Water Commission,
United States Section
2. IBWC Mission
The International Boundary and Water
Commission, United States and Mexico, is
responsible for applying the boundary and water
treaties between the two countries and settling
differences that arise in their application.
Excellence through teamwork.
3. INTERNATIONAL BOUNDARY AND
WATER COMMISSION
(IBWC)
MEXICAN US
SECTION SECTION
•Mexican Commissioner •US Commissioner
•Secretary •Secretary
•Two Principal Engineers •Two Principal Engineers
•Legal Adviser •Legal Adviser
4. IBWC Minutes
• Decisions of the Commission are
recorded in the form of Minutes
• Minutes are binding agreements of the
IBWC intended to implement treaty.
• They take effect once approved by the
U.S. Department of State and Mexico’s IBWC Commissioners and
Foreign Affairs Ministry Secretaries sign Min. 318
Excellence through teamwork.
5. Field Offices
San Diego Yuma Nogales Up. Rio Grande Presidio Amistad Falcon L. Rio Grande
Laredo
6. Present Rio Grande Reservoir Conditions
http://www.ibwc.gov/wad/res_report.html
7. Allocation of Rio Grande Waters
Convention of 1906 –
“Equitable Distribution of the Waters of the Rio
Grande”
• El Paso-Juarez Valley to Fort Quitman
1944 Water Treaty –
“Utilization of Water of the Colorado and Tijuana
Rivers and of Rio Grande”
• Fort Quitman, Texas to Gulf of Mexico
Excellence through teamwork.
8. Convention of 1906
• Distribution between Mexico and
the U.S. of the waters originating in
the Upper Rio Grande watershed.
• U.S. to deliver 60,000 acre-feet per United States American
year to Mexico at the headworks of Canal
the Acequia Madre Canal
Mexico
• Proportional reduction in deliveries
in case of extraordinary drought American Dam
American Dam
• Project water stored in Elephant
Butte and Caballo Dams – New
Mexico
Excellence through teamwork.
9. Convention of 1906
3 Primary Entities served with Project
Water from Elephant Butte and
Caballo reservoirs
• Elephant Butte Irrigation District
• El Paso County Water Mexico’s Deliveries
Improvement District No. 1
US Deliveries
• Mexico
Poor contingency planning in winter of
2011 led to a delivery timing conflict International Dam
in 2012.
Excellence through teamwork.
10. • US Irrigation Districts
Historical Starts of
drought management
strategy was to defer
Irrigation Season
deliveries until Mid-May or
early June.
• Officially informed Mexico
of their plan on February
15, 2012.
• Mexico did not have well
infrastructure in place to
wait until Mid-May
• Compromise – EP#1 agreed
to come on-line with
Mexico on April 5th.
11. Lesson’s Learned from 2012
• Initiate early contingency planning with all
three irrigation entities (Fall of 2012)
• Need better understanding of how surface
water in channel interacts with aquifer.
• Need better understanding of how
groundwater pumping impacts channel
conveyance efficiencies.
• Federal study - (USIBWC/Reclamation) with
input from 3 irrigation entities to analyze
surface/groundwater interactions of system
and propose operational strategies to
better manage precious resource.
12. 1944 Water Treaty – Rio Grande
• Mexico delivers water to the
U.S., Ft. Quitman to Gulf
Conchos
• U.S. receives 1/3 of the waters River
arriving in the Rio Grande from 6
Mexican tributaries
Rio Grande
• Minimum annual average of 350
kaf in cycles of 5 yrs
• Treaty authorized construction of
up to three storage dams on Rio
Grande; only 2 were built
Excellence through teamwork.
13. Fort Quitman
MEXICAN TREATY TRIBUTARIES
Arroyo Las Vacas
Conchos Presidio AMISTAD DAM
San Rodrigo
Escondido
San Diego Eagle Pass
Laredo
Salado
E. San Antonio
E. Las Tortillas
FALCON DAM
SAN GABRIEL
15. RiverWare Modeling
Objective: Develop comprehensive Rio
Grande basin model to support treaty
criteria. RiverWare is a very flexible tool
to support daily operations, mid-term
forecasting, and long-range planning.
USIBWC hired RiverWare subject
matter expert.
• Presently developing reservoir
flood operation models.
• Develop water accounting
models in 2012.
Combine model development with
Mexico’s RiverWare models (in
development) for comprehensive
watershed model
16. Questions?
Carlos Peña, Principal Engineer Operations
International Boundary and Water Commission,
United States Section
Excellence through teamwork.
Notes de l'éditeur
Over 300 minutes of the IBWC. Various Minutes relate to construction, operation, and maintenance of Amistad and Falcon Dams, levee systems and flood control projects, etc.
This is where our field offices are located. There is usually a Mexican counterpart office at the sister city.Along the Rio Grande, we have personnel in Las Cruces, El Paso, Fort Hancock, Presidio, Del Rio, Laredo, Falcon and Mercedes.We also maintain an office at the State Department.
What was different this year…there was not sufficient project water to sustain a continuous release from Caballo reservoir for the entire irrigation season.US irrigation districts (EBID and EP#1) developed a water budget that deferred releases until Mid-May/June timeframe.Unfortunately, Mexico was informed of US plan on Feb. 15th (2 weeks prior to typical start of irrigation season). Mexico did not have operating well infrastructure to augment 1st irrigation with groundwater, therefore requested their allocated amount in late March.A compromise was reached in the hallways of the Austin capitol building where EP#1 reluctantly agreed to come on-line with Mexico on April 5th.
The Conchos River in the Big Bend area is the biggest contributor to Mexico’s treaty deliveries followed by the Salado, which enters at Falcon. The two dams are Amistad and Falcon.A new cycle begins after the U.S. conservation capacity in Amistad and Falcon Dams is filled so sometimes cycles are less than 5 years.