Water war brewing along Mexican border

By DAVID KRAVETS
Associated Press Writer

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- The Bush administration is urging a federal appeals court to allow part of a canal separating California and Mexico to be lined with concrete to stop millions of gallons of water from seeping south of the border.

A lawsuit seeking to block the project argues that shutting off that seepage would be detrimental to farmers and others in Mexico.

The lining is proposed along a portion of the 82-mile All-American Canal that delivers Colorado River water to crop land on both sides of the border about 100 miles east of San Diego.

The U.S. government says Mexico already gets 489 billion gallons of Colorado River water legitimately each year under a 1944 treaty and isn't entitled to the seepage, which provides a farming lifeline in Mexico.

A Justice Department attorney told a panel of three appellate judges on Monday that Mexicans have no right to the water, which is also the lifeblood for 500,000 acres of U.S. farmland.

The lining project will provide enough water for 135,000 new homes in the San Diego area.