A “water banks” should be established in order for smaller towns to receive water from larger cities with surplus products and preserve it flowing in South Texas, according to the head of a South Texas preparing party.
Past president of McAllen, one of the biggest cities in the Rio Grande Valley, and chairman of the Texas Water Development Board’s Region M Water Planning Group. He told Border Report that he was in Austin on Wednesday to discuss alternatives to the continuing drought and Mexico’s lack of water payments and that he had met with Texas Commission on Environmental Quality officials to pitch this concept.
” I’m trying to get three or four places to be the result on that, larger places, and actually manage it through the Council of Governments”, Darling said.
A five-year pattern requires Mexico and the United States to make certain amounts of water payment across the border. Mexico has hardly one week’s worth of water that it owes the Rio Grande this pattern, but it will end in October 2025.
With forecasts for triple-digit temperature time and much rain in sight, border officials are concerned about this.
Water supplies have already been lost by some crops growers, but towns have not. Darling says he worries that there wo n’t be enough water flow to transport wastewater to treatment plants because agriculture’s volume is pushing the municipal water through the open canal system.
” I’m really worried about that. Where will you get that push-up of ocean? Some rivers have ocean, but you must purchase it from the company. It’d become cheap and how’s all that going to work? So we’re asking the liquid master’s company to create a lender, if you will. So, at least if your water district is out of water right now, they ca n’t, they’re not going to pump. So you can access your canal’s waters supply from the valley, Darling said.
The state’s available canal systems lose a lot of water through transportation, and the region’s persistent hot, dry days are further compounding evaporation issues.
There is no time or resources to line the canals right now, according to Darling, who told Border Report. However, he claimed there are more than 3, 000 rivers in Hidalgo and Cameron counties and that lining the system is a priority.
On Wednesday, the combined capacity at the region’s two reservoirs was hovering just above 20 %. But Falcon Reservoir, in Zapata County, was only 8.9 % full. Amistad Reservoir, outside Del Rio, was at 27.9 %, according to the Texas Water Development Board.
A sugar factory in Santa Rosa, the only one in Texas, was shut down earlier this year because there was no water available for gardeners.
Due to the drought and Mexico’s inability to provide water, Hidalgo County has declared a crisis charter.
Additionally, some border cities have implemented Phase 2 water restrictions that only apply to specific days for homeowners to water lawns.
Darling predicts that if the reservoirs ‘ combined water levels fall below 20 %, additional restrictions will be put in place.
Sandra Sanchez can be reached at [email protected].
