Water - as Opportunity

Earth, the blue planet, has an abundance of water. But getting fresh H2O to places where it's most needed is an urgent problem in many parts of the world.

One of the world's water hot spots runs along the US-Mexico border. From the fair division of rivers like the Rio Grande and the Colorado to the preservation of threatened aquifers, the United Statesp10s and Mexico share an important water agenda.

While illegal immigration gets more play in the news, the continuing availability of water is another crucial long-term issue between the two countries - one that Presidents George Bush and Vicente Fox should address when they meet again in September. Solving the water problem will demand sophisticated technology, political will, money - plus vision and cooperation.

This year, the border-defining Rio Grande River has been a specific point of contention. After years of drought, this spring the river ran dry before it reached the Gulf of Mexico. Upstream, reservoirs store what water there is - water to which both Mexico and the US have a legal claim.

But Mexico, through the recent drought years, failed to give neighboring Texas its full share of the water. This year Mexico is scheduled to start paying back that debt, but it missed a July 31 deadline for a first installment on the 1.3 million acre feet it owes. Texas citrus growers fear their crops will fail unless more water flows.

Meanwhile, farmers in Mexico's Tamaulipas State are watching their crops wither and wondering what other income options they have. They may go north, or at least join in an alternative and lucrative business: smuggling people across the border.

At the same time, burgeoning Mexican border cities, like Ciudad Juarez, face a mounting water crisis of their own: dwindling reserves in local aquifers and no legal access to the Rio Grande. Such problems exist in much of Mexico. The aquifer under Mexico City, population 18 million-plus, is thought to be near depletion.

While things are relatively better north of the border because of a more developed water infrastructure, Southwestern states like Texas face severe long-term water challenges of their own. With aquifer levels dropping and rivers in the region used to capacity, governments face hard decisions about apportioning water between ever-thirsty agriculture and fast-growing urban areas.

Texas is drafting plans for water use in its many regions over the next 50 years, and its farmers are learning to conserve water through such means as reducing evaporation. The state, as well as federal officials with authority over water resources, would do well to work closely with their southern neighbor as they plot a water-policy future. Other parts of the world where water is an even more politically contentious issue - such as the Middle East - could certainly use the example.