(The Center Square) – Seven months after the Trump administration claimed Mexico would be complying with a treaty to ensure south Texas received water, Texas still hasn’t received it.
Gov. Greg Abbott Friday again demanded that Mexican authorities fulfill their treaty obligation and pointed to a potential solution proposed by Texas U.S. senators.
“Mexico must be held accountable for their continued breaches of our long-standing water agreement,” Abbott said in a statement. “Because of their pattern of neglect, Texas farmers are enduring preventable hardship and an erosion of the agricultural viability of the Rio Grande Valley. The significant economic loss from Mexico’s failure to supply more than two years’ worth of water obligations – almost 2 million acre-feet – has had a severe negative impact on Texas’ agricultural industry. The breach of the 1944 Water Treaty violates foundational elements of international law and diplomacy and must be corrected immediately.”
At issue is a 1944 Treaty of Utilization of Waters, which governs water usage between the U.S. and Mexico, including from two international reservoirs, Lake Amistad and Falcon Lake in Texas along the international border. Mexico has historically released water storage from Lake Amistad to Mexican growers, not to Texas growers, and the U.S. federal government hasn’t enforced the treaty. Last year, Mexican officials killed any agreements to release water to Texans, even running ads in Mexico City to protest compliance, according to several news reports.
Under the treaty, Mexico is obligated to deliver 1.75 million acre-feet over five years to the United States from the Rio Grande River; the U.S. is obligated to deliver 1.5 million acre-feet of water to Mexico from the Colorado River. The U.S. has consistently met its delivery obligations, according to International Boundary and Water Commission data.
In April, Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins claimed that 100 days into his term, President Donald Trump, “in a historic demonstration of leadership,” had ensured Mexican water delivery for Texas farmers. “Mexico has committed to make an immediate transfer of water from international reservoirs and increase the U.S. share of the flow in six of Mexico’s Rio Grande tributaries through the end of the current five-year water cycle,” she said, The Center Square reported.
Seven months later that hasn’t happened.
The last five-year cycle ended in October with Mexico once again failing to meet its minimum delivery obligations. According to the IBWC, as of Oct. 24, 2025, Mexico ended the cycle delivering approximately 885,000 acre-feet, less than 50% of its total obligation of 1.75 million acre-feet.
Preliminary IBWC data indicates Mexico has a remaining delivery deficit of more than 800,000 acre-feet of water, the governor’s office says. That’s equivalent to roughly 2.5 years of required deliveries.
The Rio Grande Valley is among the most fertile agricultural regions in Texas and the U.S. Half of crop production acreage in the lower Rio Grande Valley is irrigated. In order to grow a wide range of crops, farmers rely on water from the Colorado and Rio Grande rivers. The agricultural industry in the valley contributes roughly $1 billion annually to the economy and provides roughly 8,400 full-time jobs, The Center Square reported.
A 2023 Texas A&M AgriLife analysis states valley growers have been suffering from water shortages since the mid-1990s.
“These shortages were exacerbated in 1992, when Mexico began under supplying the average minimum annual amount the 350,000 acre feet of water in the Rio Grande, which continues today,” it said, referring to two years ago.
In 2023, irrigation water shortages resulted in an estimated $495.8 million crop revenue loss and $993.2 million loss in economic output, it states. The loss of irrigated crop production in the region was an estimated $554.8 million loss “in value added (contribution to the state’s GDP)” and “an estimated loss of 8,404 jobs (full-and part-time) that depend on the production and sales of these commodities for some portion of their income,” it says.
Fast forward to one year after the report was published and Texas’ last sugar mill was forced to close. The sugar industry blamed Mexican authorities for not releasing water and U.S. authorities for not holding them accountable, The Center Square reported.
Last year, record-low levels in the Falcon and Amistad reservoirs forced Texas to accept water from Mexico through non-designated sources. Last November, Abbott directed the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to accept water from the San Jaun River but again said Mexico must comply with the treaty, The Center Square reported.
The San Juan River water deliveries were downstream of Falcon and Amistad reservoirs, “which prevented Texas from capturing water that was not immediately needed,” he said.
On Friday, Abbott pointed to a possible solution proposed by Sens. Ted Cruz and John Cornyn to strengthen enforcement of the treaty. If a bill they filed is enacted, restrictions would be imposed on Mexico, including denying all non-treaty requests from the Mexican government and limiting engagement until it complies.
