The Colorado Delta proved to be only the tip of the iceberg. Not until after 2012 was a deal on the Delta finally reached which was largely patterned on CURE’s original 2001 proposal. Unfortunately, the symposium was scheduled to begin on the morning of September 11, 2001, and that day’s fateful events disrupted bi-national progress on the Delta. The conference aimed to educate participants about Delta-related legal issues and to begin identifying the water needs of the Delta’s precious remaining ecosystem. Several months later, CURE took part in an international conference in Mexicali, called the U.S.-Mexico Colorado River Delta Symposium, involving concerned government officials, scientists, environmentalists, and non-governmental organizations. In May 2001, the team’s efforts culminated in publication of a report entitled, Immediate Options for Augmenting Water Flows to the Colorado River in Mexico. In 2000, CURE was instrumental in drafting Minute 306 of the 1944 Treaty recognizing the importance of both countries working together to save the Delta Habitat. Environmental attorneys, hydrologist, water experts and water officials from both sides of the border evaluated politically feasible options for transferring water to the Delta in order to facilitate efforts to salvage the Delta’s dying ecosystem and restore important wildlife habitat. While Defenders and other environmental organizations were litigating, CURE used its contacts to convene a bi-national, multidisciplinary team that met over several months to discuss and propose possible solutions. ![]() The Delta was once described by naturalist Aldo Leopold as “a milk and honey wilderness” and the place of “a hundred green lagoons.” In the 1920s, when Leopold was writing about it, the Delta stretched over nearly 3,000 square miles by the end of the century, it had shrunk by nearly 90%. In the early 2000s, Defenders of Wildlife were filing lawsuits to promote restoration of the Colorado River Delta and CURE agreed to help. affecting the flow of the Colorado River have environmental and human consequences in the Mexican portion of the Lower Colorado Basin. As a consequence, whatever actions taken in the U.S. states, with the remaining 10% allocated to Mexico. Since a 1944 Treaty, approximately 90% of the river has been used by seven western U.S. Like many watersheds around the world, the Colorado River watershed is shared by two sovereign nations with conflicting values and priorities. See the 2017 Salton Sea Special Report for an update on the current status of the Salton Sea and the State of California’s failure to comply with its obligation to be implementing a restoration plan before the Imperial-San Diego transfer reaches its full diversion this year. Including the disintegration of regional agriculture, job losses. Lawmakers and the courts must acknowledge the true costs to communities when water is diverted from rural to urban areas. Its litigation over the proposal to line the All American Canal in concrete, and its many legal challenges to the landmark 2003 Imperial Valley to San Diego water transfer agreement exposed the many fallacies used to justify those decisions. ![]() Since its inception, CURE has worked to draw policymakers’ attention to the environmental, health and economic harm that will result from transferring water from agricultural use to urban areas.
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