WATER for Farmers Act

Key Points

• The bill requires Mexico to deliver at least 350,000 acre-feet of water per year from the Rio Grande basin. If Mexico falls short, the Secretary of State must formally declare a water delivery shortfall within 30 days of the end of that year.
• When Mexico misses its water target, the U.S. Trade Representative would impose new tariffs on Mexican imports, targeting agricultural products and goods from areas that use Rio Grande water. Tariffs would escalate if shortfalls continue for multiple consecutive years.
• Revenue from these tariffs would flow into the South Texas Agricultural Compensation Trust Fund, which would directly compensate Rio Grande Valley farmers for economic losses caused by the water shortfalls, without needing any additional approval from Congress.
• The compensation formula accounts for the volume of the shortfall, the economic value of the lost water, and a broader impact multiplier that factors in job losses, supply chain disruptions, and closures of agricultural processing businesses in the region.
• The International Boundary and Water Commission would be required to publicly report monthly data on water deliveries, shortfall calculations, and the status of compensation payments to farmers, creating a new layer of transparency around treaty compliance.