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By David Kravets
Associated Press
December 5, 2006
SAN FRANCISCO — Government lawyers are urging a federal
appeals court to allow a section of a canal separating
California and Mexico to be lined with cement to stop millions
of gallons of water from seeping south of the border each
year.
The lining is proposed along a portion of the 82-mile
(132-kilometer) All-American Canal that delivers Colorado
River water to crop land on both sides of the border about 100
miles (160 kilometers) east of San Diego.
The U.S. government says Mexico already gets 489 billion
gallons (1.8 trillion liters) of Colorado River water
legitimately each year under a 1944 treaty and isn't entitled
to the seepage, which provides a farming lifeline in Mexico.
A Justice Department attorney told a panel of three appellate
judges on Monday that Mexicans have no right to the water,
which is also the lifeblood for 500,000 acres (200,000
hectares)of U.S. farmland.
The lining project will provide enough water for 135,000 new
homes in the San Diego area.
The San Francisco-based appeals court temporarily blocked
construction of the US$210 million (euro158 million), 23-mile
(37-kilometer) -long lining in August after Mexican business
interests and U.S. environmental groups sued.
The lawsuit claims there would be significant job losses on
the Mexican side of the border as thousands of acres
(hectares) of crops would turn to dust, that Mexican wells
would become polluted without the seepage and migratory birds
would be threatened if wetlands disappeared.
R. Gaylord Smith, an attorney for Consejo de Desarrollo
Economico de Mexicali, a Mexican business group, argued that
the U.S. has abandoned rights to the water.
Judge Sidney Thomas said the U.S. might have abandoned the
water, but that doesn't mean "somebody else acquires
it."
Malissa Hathaway, another attorney for the business group,
argued the canal project would be detrimental to both sides of
the border.
"No one has looked at the economic effects of taking land
out of production," she said.
Water consumption spurred by breakneck growth in Southern
California prompted Western states to complain they weren't
getting their share of Colorado River water. The dispute
resulted in a water redistribution deal that included the
lining project as California settled for less water.
Colorado River water first flowed to California's arid
southeast in 1901 on the Alamo Canal, which dipped into
Mexico. California farmers soon decided they needed a canal
completely within the United States, leading to completion of
the All-American in 1942.
Critics of the project say migrants might die crossing a lined
canal because concrete will deprive desperate swimmers of tall
grasses to grab. While the canal appears calm, migrants who
cram onto inflatable rafts could be swept away by a fierce
undercurrent.
The appeals court did not indicate when it would rule.
The Mexican government is not a party to the case, but
disapproved of the lining in court briefs.
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