Rice announces Mexico water pact

MEXICO CITY, March 10 (UPI) -- Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice announced Thursday that Mexico will pay the remainder of a water debt to the United States.

Rice made the announcement during a visit to Mexico.

"In the spirit of effective bilateral cooperation, I am pleased that we have reached a mutual understanding on the transfer of a sum of water that will cover Mexico's debt to the United States under our 1944 Water Treaty, thus ensuring continued cooperation in the management of precious natural resources to the mutual benefit of both economies," Rice said in a statement.

The announcement was met with rejoicing in Texas where a diverse alliance of politicians, farmers and technicians have been urging the U.S. and Mexican federal governments to ensure that Texas receives the water Mexico owes it this year.

Mexico finished the prior two water-accounting cycles (1992-2002) with a cumulative deficit of over 1.3 million acre-feet, but managed to reduce the deficit to 716,670 acre-feet by Oct. 1, 2004. The same amount will be paid to Mexico over the next six months.