| OCR Text |
Show RIO GRANDE RECTIFICATION CONVENTION 451 The text of Minute 129 of the International Boundary Commission is printed in 48 Stat. 1628. To it is appended the joint report of the consulting engineers of the United States and Mexican sections of the International Boundary Commission dated July 16, 1930. The Eng- lish text of Minute 129 (omitting the joint report) reads as follows: "Mexico City, July 31, 1930. "Minute No. 129. "Subject: Report on Rio Grande Rectification. "The Commission met in the conference room at the Department of Foreign Relations, Mexico City, at ten o'clock a.m. July 31, 1930, in accordance with Minute No. 128, to complete its action in reporting and recommending a plan for Rio Grande rectification. "(1) Each section of the International Boundary Commission has been requested by the Foreign Relations Department of its Govern- ment to study and develop an international plan for the removal of the flood menace of the Rio Grande from the El Paso-Juarez Valley. Studies and investigations have now reached the point where it is possible to report to the two Governments a definite plan with esti- mates of cost; and the following is the report of the International Boundary Commissioners, together with a joint report prepared by the consulting engineers and technical advisers. Minute No. Ill of the Joint Commission, dated December 21,1928, outlined in a general way the necessities for international action and gave a general de- scription of the areas involved, a preliminary summary of the pro- posed plan and recommended proceeding with the development of the final details of the plans and estimates. During the past few months a most important step taken by the Commission consisted in rendering decisions determining the national jurisdiction and domin- ion of a number of banco cases in the area under consideration. "(2) The plan prepared and developed by the Joint Commission is attached hereto as an exhibit to this minute. In transmitting1 it to the two Goverments1 the Commissioners offer it as being both practical and feasible as an engineering and economic project. In general the plan consists of straightening the present river channel, effecting de- crease in length from one hundred fifty-five (155) miles to eighty- eight (88) miles, and confining this channel between two parallel levees. In addition to this channel the plan includes the construction of a flood retention dam at the only available site, twenty-two (22) miles below Elephant Butte on the Rio Grande, creating reservoir storage of one hundred thousand (100,000) acre-feet. Careful studies based on actual past flood performance show the advantage of reducing the flood flow reaching El Paso-Juarez by storage in the proposed reservoir. The reduction in flood flow thru the El Paso-Juarez Valley accomplished by such storage of flood waters effects a saving of a quarter of a million dollars in the works required thru the valley by decreasing the size of the channel and reducing the area required for right-of-way, and the amount of yardage in levees. " (3) The meandering and uncontrolled Rio Grande below El Paso- Juarez has in recent years become a very serious menace to adjacent lands on both sides. Authorities of both countries have unsuccessfully '¦ So in original. |
