… The 1944 Water Treaty between the U.S. and Mexico was signed in a different world, when rivers seemed eternal and drought was merely a seasonal phenomenon. It obligated Mexico to deliver 430 million cubic meters of water to the U.S. each year, while the U.S. released over four times that amount to Mexico from the Colorado River. But the math no longer works. Mexico is now 1.5 billion cubic meters behind on its side of the deal. The tributaries it relies on—especially the Conchos—have dried. … Legal scholars at El Colegio de la Frontera Norte argue the treaty must evolve. Since 1944, basin populations have doubled, farming has intensified, and the Rio Grande basin has warmed 1.3°C (2.3°F). They propose adding a “flex clause” that would scale water allocations to real-time climate and hydrological data. However, U.S. officials fear that any renegotiation might threaten Mexico’s Colorado River entitlements, which are already shrinking due to record-low water levels at Lake Mead. In the meantime, the treaty isn’t solving the conflict—it’s deepening it.