MCALLEN, Texas - To get Mexico to release the water it owes the United States under a 1944 water sharing treaty, the U.S. must use the obvious leverage it has. Namely, do not release water from the Colorado River to Tijuana until Mexico releases water into the Rio Grande.
This is the view of Othal Brand, Jr., president of the newly-formed Hidalgo County Consolidated Water Control and Improvement District.
Working alongside his late father, Othal Brand, Sr., the former mayor of McAllen, Brand farmed in Mexico for decades. He said this experience helped him understand the Mexican psyche.
“They rely 100 percent on us. Tijuana gets all their water from the United States. I said, until you tell them, look, guys, we want to keep giving you this water, but you need to lighten up and start releasing some water down here (to the Rio Grande Valley),” Brand said.
Brand said he gave this advice to U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke L. Rollins when she visited the Valley recently. Brand said Rollins took that message back to President Trump.
“And within two weeks, Trump himself, for the first time, it got on his radar in a way that he came out publicly and addressed it. Mexico, you need to give some water to the people of the Rio Grande Valley,” Brand said.
“It’s the only leverage.”
Editor’s Note: Here is an exclusive interview Othal Brand, Jr., gave the Rio Grande Guardian about the Valley’s water crisis:
