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RELEASE OF COLORADO RIVER WATER 41 Following the notice to Mexico that deliveries would be limited to 1,500,000 acre-feet in 1961, this Department received a number of requests from Mexico, through the Department of State, requesting us to permit the scheduling of an additional 200,000 acre-feet of water for calendar year 1961. On the basis of runoff forecasts we refused to agree to any such commitment. On July 25, 1961, we received a request from Mexico through the Department of State, advising that a critical water situation existed in the Mexicali Valley that would adversely affect the Baja California economy unless a small additional amount of Colorado River water could be made available to save summer crops. In our normal method of delivering water to Mexico under day-to-day schedules there are periodic overdeliveries caused by user agencies in the United States diverting less than scheduled amounts, unpredicted runoff from storms, unpredictable return flow, and similar operational river management occurrences. In our letter of July 27, 1961, to the Department of State, we advised that Mexico could be permitted to schedule an additional 40,000 acre-feet, starting August 1 at the rate of approximately 1,000 acre-feet per day over and above the existing schedule, but that in attempting to deliver this additional water there might be shortages on some days (compared to normal overdeliveries), and that as soon as the additional 40,000 acre-feet had been delivered we would reduce deliveries back to the normal schedule under the guaranteed 1,500,000 acre-feet. Of the 40,000 acre-feet additional water that we have permitted Mexico to schedule and depend upon, some 15,000 to 18,000 acre-feet probably would have arrived at Morelos Dam as overdeliveries under the original schedules. Our granting Mexico permission to schedule this additional 40,000 acre-feet will require releases of only 22,000 to 25,000 acre-feet of additional water from upstream storage. Considering that on July 1, 1961, we had 18,810,00 acre-feet in storage in Lake Mead and 1,618,000 acre-feet in Lake Mohave behind Davis Dam, the release of this small quantity to relieve a critical situation appeared to be fully justified, particularly on the basis of international relations with our Mexican neighbors to the south. You will note that we have not furnished you the criteria on which the regional office of the Bureau of Reclamation has based its finding in past years that there is a surplus of water available to Mexico. We wish to assure you that we are diligently assembling the bases of these decisions and will supply you as soon as possible with the criteria used in determining when surplus water is available. We also wish to call your attention to the fact that the decision to schedule an additional 40,000 acre-feet this year which in effect will require releases of about 22,000 to 25,000 acre-feet of additional water from upstream storage was not based on any determination that surplus water is available. Rather the decision was made because of the extreme hardship which would result to our Mexican neighbors in the event no water was made available. This is further covered in the enclosed correspondence dated July 27 from Secretary Udall to Secretary Rusk. Also enclosed is Commissioner Dominy's memorandum of July 26 to Assistant Secretary Holum on the subject of the delivery of water to Mexico. Sincerely yours, JAMES K. CARR, Under Secretary of the Interior. [For release to PM's, July 31, 1961] DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY, INFORMATION SERVICE. INTERIOR APPROVES RELEASE OF COLORADO RIVER WATER TO ASSIST MEXICO Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall today announced approval of a request by the Government of Mexico for release of an extra 40,000 acre-feet of Colorado River water over the next 40 days to prevent the loss of irrigated summer crops in the Mexicali area of Baja California (lower California), Mexico. "We appreciate the extremely critical situation faced by our neighbors in the Mexicali Valley," Secretary Udall advised the Department of State. "The additional releases of approximately 1,000 acre-feet daily above planned deliveries will be scheduled over a 40-day period beginning August 1," said Secretary Udall. The former schedule of releases from the last control point on the Colorado River at Imperial Dam above Yuma, Ariz., called for a sufficient quantity of water to provide deliveries to Mexico of 174,941 acre-feet during August and 105,391Epson Perfection 4870 Photo, 400 dpi, 8 bit, 1,563,630 byte