CROSS-BORDER water disputes usually conjure up images of parched Middle Eastern states such as Jordan and Israel. But one of the longest running has been between the US and Mexico over the Colorado river, which travels its final 100 kilometres or so in Mexico before emptying into the Gulf of California.
Or at least it used to: the river last reached the sea on a regular basis in the early 1960s, before the Glen Canyon dam was built more than 1000 kilometres upstream.
That dispute is now largely settled following a historic deal. Mexico and the US have agreed to share both water and drought – an increasingly frequent visitor to the region. One of the most gratifying aspects of the deal is that it includes ecological restoration (see "Huge water pulse to bring Colorado river back from dead").
The agreement is already being touted as a model for water agreements elsewhere. Bulgarian, Chilean, Czech and Kazakh water managers have all visited the region to learn about its successes.
Sixty per cent of the world's fresh water spans international boundaries, and while dire warnings of escalating "water wars" have yet to come to pass, managing this vital resource is crucial to future peace and prosperity. The US and Mexico have shown the way forward.
This article appeared in print under the headline "Water peace, not war"
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