WATER SECURITYLaredo Confronts Drought and Water Shortage with Minimal Options

By Dylan Baddour

Published 24 August 2022

A mounting water supply crisis in scorching far-South Texas has left local governments pressed to respond. Two major cities, Brownsville and McAllen, rolled out watering restrictions in recent weeks, but leaders in the South Texas city of Laredo are reluctant to impose substantial restrictions on watering lawns even as water supplies near record lows.

mounting water supply crisis in scorching far-South Texas has left local governments pressed to respond. Two major cities, Brownsville and McAllen, rolled out watering restrictions in recent weeks, and their counties made disaster declarations, seeking emergency state funds. The reservoirs that support the region are lower than they’ve ever been.

When City Council members met last week in Laredo, an 18th century Spanish frontier town and the largest South Texas city on the Rio Grande, it was their turn to craft a response. What they came up with illustrates the region’s helplessness to meet a changing climate and its willingness to approach the brink of disaster for the sake of green grass.

In Laredo’s City Hall, council members watched on a screen as Martin Castro, watershed science director for the nonprofit Rio Grande International Study Center, showed a graph of projected water supplies if severe drought persists — they could run out next spring.

“At that point we will be under very strict water rationing like other cities are in Mexico,” Castro told the council, urging the adoption of restrictions. “If we continue to wait, we’re getting to a point where it won’t make a difference.”

Faced with crisis, the City Council offered a debate about how many days per week Laredoans should be allowed to water lawns. One day per week was too strict, they decided, so they settled on three, and only at night. It would be enforced by the water department’s code enforcement division — two people. Violators would get two warnings before a citation. Mostly, planners hoped for voluntary participation.

Some worried what restrictions would cost the city’s aging water supply system, which needs water sales to fund critical improvements.

“When we cut use, we also cut money,” said council member Dr. Marte Martinez. “We’ve got to look at both sides: the drought conditions, but also all the investments we have to make.”

And, he said, “we have plenty of water right now.” Only the communities downstream in the Rio Grande Valley, and in neighboring city Zapata, as well as others across Northern Mexico, were facing a supply crisis.

“We don’t have to look too far to see what’s happening in other communities that have waited to take conservation steps,” local attorney Carlos Flores told the council. “Asking someone to do something voluntarily is not really a conservation step.”

Private households account for 65% of Laredo’s water use—some 671 million gallons per month. More than half of