Title 22Foreign Relations and IntercourseRelease 119-73

§277b Works or projects under treaty

Title 22 › Chapter CHAPTER 7— - INTERNATIONAL BUREAUS, CONGRESSES, ETC. › Subchapter SUBCHAPTER IV— - INTERNATIONAL BOUNDARY AND WATER COMMISSION › § 277b

Last updated Apr 6, 2026|Official source

Summary

The President can build, fix, protect, and finish projects covered by treaties with Mexico. He can also build projects that help the United States follow those treaties. The President may run those projects himself or, under rules he sets and under continuing supervision by the American Commissioner or a federal agency, give operation and upkeep to a federal agency or to state or local governments. He may also carry out surveys, work, and upkeep for the system that intercepts sewage flows from Tijuana canyon areas. Spending for the Rio Grande bank protection project must follow the rules in the first undesignated paragraph under “International Obligations” in the Act of April 25, 1945 (59 Stat. 89). The Anzalduas diversion dam cannot be used for irrigation or U.S. water supply unless the future water users agree to repay the U.S. Government for the parts of the dam the Secretary of State assigns. The Secretary of State, through the U.S. Commissioner of the International Boundary and Water Commission, may make improvements to the Rio Grande Canalization Project (Act of August 29, 1935, 49 Stat. 961), including work to stabilize the Rio Grande between Percha Diversion Dam in New Mexico and the American Diversion Dam in El Paso, to help meet the Convention for Equitable Distribution of the Waters of the Rio Grande, May 21, 1906, United States‑Mexico.

Full Legal Text

Title 22, §277b

Foreign Relations and Intercourse — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)The President is further authorized (1) to construct any project or works which may be provided for in a treaty entered into with Mexico and to repair, protect, maintain, or complete works now existing or now under construction or those that may be constructed under the treaty provisions aforesaid; and to construct any project or works designed to facilitate compliance with the provisions of treaties between the United States and Mexico; (2) to operate and maintain any project or works so constructed or, subject to such rules and regulations for continuing supervision by the said American Commissioner or any Federal agency as the President may cause to be promulgated, to turn over the operation and maintenance of such project or works to any Federal agency, or any State, county, municipality, district, or other political subdivision within which such project or works may be in whole or in part situated, upon such terms, conditions, and requirements as the President may deem appropriate; and (3) to carry out preliminary surveys, operations, and maintenance of the interceptor system constructed to intercept sewage flows from Tijuana from selected canyon areas.
(b)Expenditures for the Rio Grande bank protection project shall be subject to the provisions and conditions made with respect to that project in the first undesignated paragraph under the heading “International Obligations” contained in the Act of April 25, 1945 (59 Stat. 89).
(c)The Anzalduas diversion dam shall not be operated for irrigation or water supply purposes in the United States unless suitable arrangements have been made with the prospective water users for repayment to the Government of the United States for such portions of the dam as shall have been allocated to such purposes by the Secretary of State.
(d)Pursuant to the authority of subsection (a) and in order to facilitate further compliance with the terms of the Convention for Equitable Distribution of the Waters of the Rio Grande, May 21, 1906, United States-Mexico, the Secretary of State, acting through the United States Commissioner of the International Boundary and Water Commission, may make improvements to the Rio Grande Canalization Project, originally authorized by the Act of August 29, 1935 (49 Stat. 961). Such improvements may include all such works as may be needed to stabilize the Rio Grande in the reach between the Percha Diversion Dam in New Mexico and the American Diversion Dam in El Paso.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

References in Text

The first undesignated paragraph under the heading “International Obligations” contained in the Act of April 25, 1945 (59 Stat. 89), referred to in subsec. (b), is not classified to the Code.

Amendments

1996—Subsec. (d). Pub. L. 104–319 added subsec. (d). 1990—Pub. L. 101–246 designated existing provisions as subsec. (a), redesignated cls. (a) and (b) as (1) and (2), respectively, added cl. (3), and added subsecs. (b) and (c).

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

22 U.S.C. § 277b

Title 22Foreign Relations and Intercourse

Last Updated

Apr 6, 2026

Release point: 119-73