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Abstract: The law bankrupted the Colorado River from the beginning, promising more water than it could deliver. Among the most consequential of these promises is the “national obligation” the United States owes to Mexico under the 1944 Water Treaty and incorporated into domestic law by the Colorado River Basin Project Act of 1968. This article examines how that obligation has shaped, and continues to reshape, the Law of the River. It argues that the “national obligation” language represents a substantive reordering of water shortage risks within the basin and creates responsibilities and opportunities for the federal government to invest in water supply augmentation to meet its national obligation to Mexico.
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