Rio Grande Valley farmers, who saw their industries decimated by lack of rain and depleted water resources, provided a small but useful supply of water for their parched land. .
Farmers are hesitant to accept it.
Farmers and the irrigation districts that supply water to farmers remain in a stalemate with the Texas Environmental Commission over 120,000 acre-feet of water that Mexico provided to the United States.
This is the catch. If farmers accept water now, they will have to give up water they already own and need next year.
In mid-October, farmers and irrigation districts met with representatives of TCEQ and the International Boundary and Water Commission, the federal agency that oversees water agreements between the United States and Mexico, to discuss the proposal.
The plan requires more than 120,000 acre-feet of water that Mexico provided to the United States after heavy rains caused massive runoff from Mexico’s Marte Gomez Reservoir (123.7 percent capacity).
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If IBWC accepts and allocates water to the State of Texas, TCEQ would be responsible for distributing water within the state through the Water Master program based on ownership of water rights.
Sonny Hinojosa, a water advocate with Hidalgo County Irrigation District 2, said many water rights holders don’t have enough water for the spring planting season. If TCEQ now charged them for accepting the water being provided by Mexico, the water they already owned and intended to save for the next planting cycle would be for other uses. It will be released.
“Farmers are not going to invest in sowing or preparing the land if there is not enough water stored behind the dam to complete the crop,” Hinojosa said. “The investment is too large.”
Hinojosa said TCEQ told irrigation district farmers and officials in attendance that not charging them for their water would be unfair to other water rights holders who don’t receive water from the San Juan River. They hope to persuade the department to collect the fee from everyone. advantage.
If it is not recharged and the current water is maintained in a reservoir, that water can be reallocated to others later if enough water comes in from rain or other sources.
“Water we don’t ask for release stays behind the dam, and when the next allocation comes, everyone gets a piece of the pie,” he says.
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Falcon and Amistad reservoirs provide water to farmers and irrigation districts in the Rio Grande Valley, but water levels remain low due to a lack of sufficient rainfall to meet farmers’ needs.
The U.S. side of the reservoir is also supposed to receive water from Mexico under the terms of a 1944 treaty. Mexico must supply 1.75 billion acre-feet of water to the United States from six tributaries every five years, which averages 350,000 acres each year. But Mexico is falling behind, needing to turn over more than 1.3 million acre-feet in balance by an October 2025 deadline.
Although the San Juan River is not one of these six tributaries, if its water is accepted, it will be counted as Mexico’s water debt.
It is important to reach an early agreement on the water that will be provided, as there is a risk that the water that will be provided will overflow the dam.
“If it rains in this area and the water overflows, it will be dangerous,” IBWC Commissioner Maria Elena Zinner said. “The other thing is, if we don’t start using some of that water, if that commitment doesn’t happen soon, then the rest of Mexico will say, ‘Well, we’ll keep it; ‘Use it’ for users. ”
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That urgency is what prompted Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller to issue an executive order last month allowing farmers and irrigation districts to use Rio Grande water.
“Every day counts,” Miller said, adding that TCEQ’s hands are tied on this issue. “We feared that by the time they got through the red tape, the water was already out of the Gulf.”
But Miller’s authority to grant access to farmers is questionable at best. TCEQ said water rights are governed by the Texas Water Act and TCEQ regulations.
“All Texans along the Rio Grande should continue to comply with these requirements,” a TCEQ spokesperson said in an email.
The department added that it continues to work with local stakeholders and IBWC on water deliveries from Mexico.
IBWC said it appreciates Mr. Miller’s efforts to support South Texas producers and irrigation districts. Giner said he continues to call on Mexican authorities to address water shortages and provide a plan to improve water supplies.
Reporting in the Rio Grande Valley is supported in part by Methodist Healthcare Ministries of South Texas, Inc.
