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Statement by the President on Announcing an Agreement With Mexico on the Rio Grande Saline Problem.

February 10, 1967

THE GOVERNMENTS of the United States and Mexico have approved an agreement for a solution to the Rio Grande salinity .problem recommended by the International Boundary and Water Commission, United States and Mexico.

President Diaz Ordaz of Mexico joined with me in December 1965 in announcing the recommendations made by the Commission. The project consists of a canal to be constructed through the territory of Mexico to convey highly saline drainage from its Morillo Drain to existing drainage channels in that country, and thence to the Gulf of Mexico. The two countries will divide equally the costs of construction, operation, and maintenance, and supervise the project through the International Commission.

Both of our Governments moved quickly to adopt the recommendations and start construction. Within less than a year, Congress enacted and I approved authorizing legislation, funds were appropriated for this country's half of the construction costs, and I was able to inform the Mexican Government that the United States was ready to proceed.

Meanwhile, Mexico completed its arrangements. Since construction will be entirely in Mexico, that Government made the detailed designs, arranged for rights of way, and organized construction work. Mexico has begun initial construction, and plans to complete the project early in 1968.

When the new works are in operation, the harmful drainage will no longer enter the river. Those who make their homes on both sides of the river will have better water. Their crops and lands will be free from dangerous concentrations of salts.

I personally thank the many Members of the Congress who made it possible for us to move so quickly in the adoption of this solution to a difficult international problem. I congratulate the people in the Lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas who waited patiently while this solution was being developed, who responded so readily to the call for their advice and money, and who will soon enjoy the fruits of our joint labors with their neighbors to the south.

Note: For the President's statement of September 19, 1966, upon signing the enabling legislation and his telegram of the same day to President Diaz Ordaz, see 1966 volume, this series, Book II, Items 467, 468.

Lyndon B. Johnson, Statement by the President on Announcing an Agreement With Mexico on the Rio Grande Saline Problem. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/238353

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