Water wars along the U.S.-Mexican border are nothing new, but tension over a California canal-paving project has an unusual focus: water that seeps from the canal into an underground aquifer. From its source at the Colorado River, the All-American Canal runs west for 82 miles (131 kms) on the northern side of the U.S.-Mexican border. The year-round artery waters California’s Imperial Valley, a 1-million-acre hothouse that accounts for $1 billion in annual agricultural sales. Because it diverts water that many Mexicans believe should be theirs, the All-American Canal has been a sore point since its opening in 1940. The latest controversy concerns a plan to pave a 23-mile stretch of the canal’s bottom with concrete. Seen... [Log in to read more]
