Restoration potential of the aquatic ecosystems of the Colorado River Delta, Mexico: Introduction to special issue on “Wetlands of the Colorado River Delta”

The delta of the Colorado River in Mexico supports about a million hectares of riparian, marsh and estuarine habitats of international importance. Some of these habitats depend on flows of fresh and brackish water from the U.S. and Mexico. Up to now, these flows were the incidental result of water management actions taken to provide water for agriculture and municipal use, protect against flooding, and dispose of saline agricultural return flows. This paper briefly describes the wetlands and documents recent bi-national efforts to provide environmental flows to the delta, codified in Minutes 306, 316 and 319 of the water treaty between the U.S. and Mexico for the utilization of Colorado River water. Providing water for environmental uses in this watershed will be a daunting task given the many competing uses for water and expected diminished flows due to climate change. The paper serves as an introduction to a special issue of Ecological Engineering, Wetlands of the Colorado River Delta, which contributes 17 new research articles to the science based on these diverse aquatic habitats. We hope these studies will be useful to those developing management strategies to preserve and enhance these habitats for the future.