Farmers in the Mexicali Valley who agreed to leave their fields dry under an international Colorado River water-saving program are still waiting to be paid. Two years after Mexico signed Actas 323 and 330 with the United States, CONAGUA (Mexico’s national water commission) has failed to deliver the agreed 60% share of compensation to the water-rights holders who fallowed their land. With the deal set to expire on Dec. 31, 2026, officials now say only 26,122 of the promised 44,854 hectares will be compensated, leaving 18,732 hectares and the farmers behind them with nothing.
Actas 323 and 330: How the Mexicali Water Rights Deal Works
The Colorado River supplies water to seven U.S. states and two Mexican states. For decades, binational agreements have governed how the river’s shrinking flows get divided. Acta 323, signed in 2017, and Acta 330, signed in 2023, are addendums to the 1944 U.S.-Mexico Water Treaty. They commit Mexico to “saving” water by paying Mexicali Valley farmers to temporarily stop irrigating their fields. That saved water then flows into Lake Mead, the massive reservoir on the Arizona-Nevada border, where levels have dropped dangerously since 2000.
Under Acta 330, Mexico pledged to deliver 493.4 million cubic meters of water to Lake Mead across the 2024 to 2026 period. In exchange, CONAGUA and CILA (the International Boundary and Water Commission, known in Mexico as the Comisión Internacional de Límites y Aguas) would pay farmers for each hectare left fallow. The original promise was 16,000 pesos (roughly $800 USD) per hectare.
The water has already been deposited in Lake Mead. But farmers say the lake’s level keeps falling anyway, and the money has not reached them. The 2024 payment cycle covered 14,924 hectares and totaled $21.6 million USD. CONAGUA acknowledged receiving the funds but redirected the entire amount to irrigation infrastructure at local irrigation modules, giving each module $1.25 million USD. Not a single peso went to individual producers that year.
For 2025, the plan called for 22,427 hectares and a $32.5 million USD budget. Only 21,122 hectares were registered at sign-up, bringing the actual pool down to $22.8 million USD. That left $9.5 million USD on the table. Then module directors allowed overenrollment, meaning more farmers signed up than the budget could cover. The promised 16,000 pesos per hectare was sliced to as little as 7,500 pesos ($375 USD) in some modules, while others received 12,500 pesos ($625 USD). CONAGUA’s director of the Baja California Peninsula watershed has now confirmed that only 5,000 additional hectares will be paid for the remainder of the program.
Deeper Colorado River Cuts Start in January 2027
The current fallowing program expires at the end of 2026, but a successor agreement is already being drafted for the 2027 to 2028 period. That next deal will impose steeper reductions: an additional 308 million cubic meters over two years. Broken down, that means 154 million cubic meters cut in 2027 and another 154 million in 2028. These reductions come on top of the existing 99 million cubic meter annual cut already in force.
At the same time, President Claudia Sheinbaum’s administration plans to allocate 124 million cubic meters of agricultural water to coastal cities in Baja California. Cities like Tijuana and Ensenada face their own chronic shortages. If both cuts proceed, the remaining allocation would irrigate roughly 109,800 hectares by gravity, a sharp decline from the roughly 200,000 hectares historically farmed across the Mexicali Valley’s irrigation district.
A proposed new national water law would tighten the squeeze further. The legislation would prohibit agricultural water-rights holders from selling unused allocations to municipalities or other non-agricultural users. For years, irrigation modules in the valley have sold surplus water to coastal cities as a financial lifeline. Under the new rules, that revenue stream would disappear. Modules that relied on water sales to maintain canals, pumps, and payrolls would lose their operating budgets.
Property and Food Production at Stake in the Valley
The Mexicali Valley is one of Mexico’s most productive agricultural zones. Its roughly 22 irrigation modules grow wheat, alfalfa, cotton, asparagus, and green onions on land that depends entirely on Colorado River water. The valley’s agricultural output was valued at over 10 billion pesos ($500 million USD) annually before the current round of cuts began.
Land values in the irrigation district track closely with water access. Parcels with secure water rights sell for significantly more than dryland plots. If the new national water law passes, farmland owners who previously counted water-sale income as part of their property’s value will see that premium evaporate. Rental prices for irrigated land, currently between 8,000 and 12,000 pesos per hectare per cycle, could also drop as fewer hectares carry water allocations.
The competition between agricultural users and coastal cities is also reshaping development patterns. Tijuana’s CESPT (the city’s water utility) and Ensenada’s water authority have both lobbied for Colorado River transfers. Every cubic meter that moves to the coast is one less for Mexicali Valley fields.
The next milestone comes on Jan. 1, 2027, when the successor agreement to Actas 323 and 330 is scheduled to take effect with deeper cuts. Farmers who fallowed land during the current program cycle still have no confirmed timeline for receiving their outstanding payments. This story was first reported by The Baja Post.