Agency OKS deal with Mexico
Up to $7.5M for more Colorado River water
The Southern Nevada Water Authority plans to spend up to
$7.5 million in Mexico over the next 10 years in exchange for more Colorado River water.
Authority board members unanimously approved the payments Thursday as they gave their blessing to a sweeping water-sharing agreement the U.S. and Mexico are expected to sign next month.
The new pact, known as Minute 323 to the Mexican Water Treaty of 1944, spells out how much Mexico would have to reduce its river use during a shortage on the Colorado and how much extra water the nation would get in a surplus.
Under the agreement, the authority, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and water agencies in Arizona and California would provide $31.5 million for water efficiency improvements in Mexico through 2026. In return, the contributing agencies would share 229,100 acre-feet of Colorado River water, which is almost enough to supply the entire Las Vegas Valley for one year.
Mexico is expected to use the money to line canals, repair pipes, curb runoff from farm fields and other water-saving projects.
Because most of the water drawn from the Colorado is used to grow crops on both sides of the border, the biggest opportunity for conservation is in the agriculture sector, water authority General Manager John Entsminger said.
“The goal is to grow the same crops with less water,” he said.
The bulk of the money will come from the Bureau of Reclamation, which is paying $16.5 million for 120,000 acre-feet of water. Of that, 70,000 acre-feet will be set aside for habitat restoration and other environmental work in the U.S. and Mexico, and the rest will be left in the
WATER
serve a minimum of 86 years.
The defendant was convicted in May of 25 felonies and five gross misdemeanors. The charges include sexual assault of a minor under 14, first-degree kidnapping, lewdness with a child under 14, child abuse and indecent exposure.
Azucena was a family friend of the five girls who were victimized between November 2014 and October 2016.
“He used their trust to get close to these parents,” Chief Deputy District Attorney Christopher Hamner said. “He knew these children. He was around before they were even born. And what he did was use that trust to sexually molest them.”
Azucena groped, kissed and exposed himself to the girls, ages 7 to 9. Hamner said the man duct-taped the arms, legs and mouth of one girl.
“He threatened to kill their parents,” the prosecutor said.
Azucena’s neighbors described in Spanish the aftermath of the crimes committed by the man they once considered family.
“We’re not the same. We don’t trust anybody. We’re always worried. We don’t rest, thinking, ‘Why did he do this?’” one mother said. “They’re just children. And he stole away their childhood and their innocence.”
A father said he watches his daughter closely now. Before, she used to go to houses and play. Now he has to make sure she is protected and safe, he testified.
“I go to a lot of places, and I see his face in every moment,” the father said. “I don’t know how there are people like this. He hurt my child, and he hurt me.”
The father said his daughter does not trust any man now — not even family members.
“She’s always thinking that they are going to hurt her,” he said.
Through tears, another mother wiped her face. Her daughter is scared of everything, she said. At the supermarket, she worries “the man” might be there. She wants to leave the state because she doesn’t want to see him.
“She feels like he’s going to follow us, and something is going to happen to us,” the mother said. “All I want is justice to be served so that he’s not outside hurting other girls, like mine.”
Hamner recommended 86 years to life, while Azucena’s attorneys requested the minimum sentence of 35 years to life.
The prosecutor said Azucena has been deported twice and served 18 years in prison in the United States for manslaughter before this case. He also is facing two counts of battery by a prisoner with a weapon.
“No one is safe from Jose,” Hamner said. “It doesn’t matter if you’re a kid or an adult.”
He said the judge’s decision was a message to every one of the children, who deserve to have the sexual abuse they suffered recognized.
“It’s unspeakable what he did to those kids,” Hamner said. “This will last a lifetime.”
Contact Briana Erickson at berickson@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5244. Follow @brianarerick on Twitter.