MEXICO CITY (AP)--The administration of President Vicente Fox will probably take more time to come up with a repayment proposal for the water it owes the United States from the Rio Grande, news reports said Wednesday. Fox had been expected to present a plan two weeks after meeting with President George W. Bush in mid-May, but will need more time to come up with a consensus among Mexican farmers and restive northern state governors who are loath to give up a drop, the newspaper Reforma quoted administration sources as saying.
Mexico argues it is suffering a severe drought that prevents it from repaying the debt, but some U.S. researchers say it's not a problem of rainfall here, but rather Mexico's increasing use of water.
Fox's search for a compromise solution came as pressure mounted even in Fox's own National Action Party to put off repayment or slow it down. National Action's congressional leader, Rep. Felipe Calderon, suggested Wednesday that the 1944 treaty governing border water rights allows for late repayments under " extreme circumstances" of drought.
Farmers in Texas say Mexico's failure to release the water is causing them huge losses.
Mexico and the United States share water from the Rio Grande in Texas and the Colorado River under the treaty.
Mexico began falling behind in releases of Rio Grande water downriver to the United States and now owes about 1.5 million acre feet of water. Each acre feet is about 326,000 gallons of water -enough to flood an acre about a foot deep.
(This story was originally published by Dow Jones Newswires)
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