Water Woes: Let it Rain
There’s good news toward the bottom of this column, but let’s start out with the negative. That’s an old Stoic concept. Confront the bad, and the fear of it, the worry over it, will evaporate.
Saw a headline recently — Why this hurricane season, which was forecast to be very busy, has been relatively quiet.
Something like that. Can’t remember the exact wording.
Didn’t read it. Thought, I already know it’s been quiet, at least for South Texas. All I really want to know is, when will enough rain arrive to fill up our two water reservoirs — Falcon and Amistad — by at least 50 percent.
Their current water levels don’t constitute happy numbers as of Sept. 7 — 20.6 percent full at Amistad, north of Del Rio; and 10.84 percent at Falcon, southeast of Laredo.
Those numbers don’t sound good, but they sound even worse when one considers that the U.S. share of that water hit an alltime low of 18.14 percent June 15, which made history going back to when the two dams first opened for business (Amistad in 1969 and Falcon in 1953).
According to latest report from the IBWC (International Boundary and Water Commission), Sept. 7, the combined total storage for the U.S. was 20.03 percent, thanks to the rains that fell this summer.
Ironic in a way, but we hardly ever consider the geography, where these lakes (reservoirs) are located — in the dry parts of Texas — while considering what we are asking them to do:
Water all of the Texas counties, cities, towns, not to mention the ag and citrus industries, their irrigation districts along the Rio Grande from Del Rio through Brownsville, while also providing water to that long swath of Mexico that also clings to the river, including Ciudad Acuña, Nuevo Laredo, Reynosa, and Matamoros.
The vast amount of the irrigation ditches, by the way, spread out across the Rio Grande Valley are still old school: all dirt, little concrete. Meaning, of course, how much water is not only lost from evaporation but just soaking into the dirt?
They Don’t Owe It?
All told, that’s a lot of people counting on water falling from the skies in two dusty parts of the state.
We, at least I, forget that before the turn of the 20th century, which brought irrigation to this region, South Texas was called, “The Wild Horse Desert.”
You don’t get the word “desert” in your name by being wet for most of the year.
By contrast, Austin usually gets 34.2 inches of rain per year, while Hidalgo County gets an average of 25.4 inches.
Somewhere along the way, after the passage of NAFTA, which came into full force Jan. 1, 1994 and kicked South Texas, Northern Mexico into economic overdrive, one would have thought that someone at the state or federal level would have thought — how will the water resources keep up with the growth?
Hidalgo County’s population in 1990 was 383,545, according to the U.S. Census, but by 2020, that number had grown to 870,781.
So, the population here has almost tripled over the past 30 years, but the people in charge have been asleep at the wheel, or they’ve been using our money for other projects — money sent to El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, Mexico, Ukraine, Israel, Middle Eastern autocrats (pick a country), South Korea, et al.
Yet, no new water plan was put in place locally with regard to added water resources, using state and federal resources to get the job done.
It’s not like some locals didn’t try to raise awareness — the Valley isn’t getting enough water to keep the ag and citrus industries alive — but their pleas for help fell on deaf ears.
Now, the local ag and citrus industries are dying on the vine, costing people jobs and money.
The Rio Grande Valley has everything — reasonable home prices and rent, friendly people, great winter weather, a vibrant economy, and great health care. The one thing it lacks, it can’t buy or manufacture, sad to say — water.
Also, can we please get off this kick — Mexico owes us water.
Based on a 1944 treaty, that’s true, Mexico does owe us water, but time and again, Mexican leaders have made it clear that they don’t plan on sending water from their river tributaries to the Rio Grande, Falcon or Amistad.
They believe that it’s up to Mother Nature to fill the Amistad and Falcon.
No joke. Serious as a heart attack. Yet, on the western side of the Continental Divide, the U.S. takes its waters from the Colorado River and pays its debt to Mexico right off the top before giving it to U.S. stakeholders.
Our fearless leaders, though, never use that as leverage to get Mexico to release water into the Rio Grande when it does have it, which is did two years ago. Back then, though, Falcon and Amistad were in better shape, so no pressure was exerted on Mexico to pump some water into the Rio Grande.
This is all documented. The fact that Mexico never has any plans to release its tributary water into our reservoirs, unless their reservoirs are overflowing from a hurricane/tropical storm/water event, and they need to release water just to stop their reservoirs, dams from bursting.
It’s not being altruistic on the part of Mexico, or even living up to the 1944 treaty. Rather, their releases of water, when they do occur, are out of nothing but sheer necessity.
Mexican government officials on the record, saying they don’t owe the water.
You just don’t hear a lot about it because the good folks at the IBWC refuse to address it. They go along with the pretend game, yes, Mexico owes us water (for Falcon and Amistad), and we’re negotiating with them “through diplomatic channels” to release the water.
Some politicians go along with the charade, pretending that they, too, are doing something, “Standing up to Mexico.”
This, of course, is a charade of the worst sort, and it includes all who play the phony game.
Again, the water levels of the river tributaries in northern Mexico are so low now, the country couldn’t pump the water it owes into the Rio Grande even if it wanted to, or was forced to by our withholding water from the Colorado River, because it would leave nothing for the millions who call northern Mexico home.
That’s how bad the drought is south of the Rio Grande.
You Don’t Wanna Know
The good news is, to put a positive spin on this water story, Hidalgo County is finally coming together, or so it looks, which includes the 30-plus municipalities and water districts that help comprise it, so that everyone is on the same page with regard to water conservation moving forward.
The county hosted a regional meeting last week, Sept. 11.
The time has come, county officials apparently agree, to get serious because our water levels are still so low, with the drier months still up ahead — November through March.
That’s the only way county water conservation will work — if all cities, counties, water districts, fall under the same water-conservation umbrella. Otherwise, one city will implement a sensible water conservation plan, given our current water levels, yet a neighboring city will not, and so, where will a would-be developer most likely gravitate: to the city with the lower commercial water rates.
Last Wednesday, Hidalgo County held a meeting in Mission, which was aimed at, according to a news release, “developing uniform triggers among cities and water districts.”
The county’s proposed plan, based on recent water levels at Falcon and Amistad, would place Hidalgo County in a “critical” drought or Stage 4 status for all municipalities.
In a press release dated Sept. 12, Hidalgo County Judge Richard Cortez wrote:
“The effort is aimed at developing uniform triggers among cities and water districts serving Hidalgo County so that residents (can) begin to understand various drought conservation stages.”
Meaning, everyone on board.
“The initial plan is for all cities and water districts to adopt a single contingency plan that has the same triggers,” the news release states.
Each stakeholder, however, will be left to its own discretion on what constitutes a “trigger,” and how to implement it.
“As reserve capacities diminish during drought conditions, every water supplying entity in the county would have the same conservation triggers that tell the consumers the seriousness of the drought,” Cortez states in the county news release.
All told, the proposed regional plan includes six stages, from 1 to 6, AKA, mild, moderate, severe, critical, emergency, you don’t wanna know.
Stage 1 assumes a supplier has 100 percent available water in reserve.
Stage 2 assumes those levels have fallen to 40 percent.
Stage 3 kicks in at 30 percent available water in reserve.
Stage 4 constitutes 20 percent.
Last, but not least, Stage 5 triggers when water levels reach 15 percent.
Stage 6, you don’t even want to consider because it includes bad words like “water rationing.”
Now, with a regional plan of action in hand, each entity that was present at last Wednesday’s meeting will return to their respective city commissions or board of directors to seek approval for the county’s uniform drought contingency plan.
“This is a long-term issue,” Cortez said. “We need to develop a regional plan to address future water needs.”
Truer words, judge, were never spoken. So, kudos to this county’s elected body, and that includes all the cities, on all the irrigation boards, who are coming together to draft at least a workable solution moving forward, which includes getting the word out: Water Is Our Most Precious Commodity, and it’s in peril.
Similar plans are also being drafted in Starr, Cameron, Willacy, and Webb counties.