Of all the important disputes between Mexico and the United States none has been as confused, as complicated, or as little understood as the division of the waters from the Rio Grande, the Colorado, and the Tijuana rivers. The ambitious task of unraveling this tangled story has been well done in Norris Hundley’s Dividing the Waters. While concentrating primarily on the period from 1906 to 1944, Hundley analyzes this colossal water fight from its beginnings in the last decades of the nineteenth century through the recent salinity dispute in the Mexicali Valley. Although designed as a study from both sides of the border, the author’s Mexican section is severely limited by Mexico’s regrettable decision to close the relevant archives. This is not to say that Mexico is neglected, however, since Hundley does a fine job with the admittedly inadequate public materials.
Dividing the Waters is focused of course on the treaty of 1944, which more or less settled the international water controversy. The author must be thanked at the outset for not losing us in the arcana of international legal theory on water disputes. Instead a minimum of theory provides a background for the analysis of treaty negotiations.
Much of the difficulty in understanding how the 1944 treaty came about is due to the large variety of groups interested in the river water. Each of these, from local farmers to federal governments, had its own special problem to be solved or interest to be protected. One of Hundley’s major virtues, in addition to thorough research, is his ability to organize and present the conflicting goals of myriad pressure groups. Each tried to impose its pet solution on the rest, and but for Hundley’s clarity we would become lost in the clamor. Unfortunately, however, there is one voice not heard. In the discussions and maneuvers of all these groups one wonders where the American business and agricultural interests were. What position, for example, did American companies operating on both sides of the border take toward the treaty negotiations?
Hundley’s talent for dissipating fog is particularly welcome in his analysis of the technical claims and accusations made by the various parties involved. I have even come to understand the salinity problem, dam projects and their effects, irrigation schemes, and the like. Such clarity is further enhanced by excellent charts and maps as well as a fine chapter on the geographical setting.
