Praised in the United States when it was unveiled last month, a new U.S.-Mexico Colorado River water-sharing accord called Minute 323 has drawn growing criticism in Mexico. Some Mexican advocacy groups charge Minute 323 violates a longstanding U.S.-Mexican water treaty by withholding water from the Mexicali Valley in Baja California state and from San Luis Rio Colorado in Sonora state. “As Donald Trump says, respect the treaties,” says Francisco Javier Zepeda, president of the Sonora-Baja California Ecological Committee, a Mexican nonprofit critical of Minute 323 and its predecessor agreement, Minute 319. Like Minute 319, the new agreement falls under the framework of the 1944 treaty governing U.S. and Mexican access to water from the Colorado, Tijuana and Rio Grande rivers. And like its predecessor, it allows Mexico to store its Colorado River water allocations in the United States and provides for U.S. funding—$31.5 million over... [Log in to read more]