WATER SECURITYMexico Is Offering Water to South Texas. But There’s a Catch Farmers Aren’t Happy About.
Farmers say they want the water, but not if it goes against the allotment they need for the spring planting season.
Rio Grande Valley farmers who have seen their industry devastated by insufficient rain and depleting water reserves have been offered up a modest but helpful amount of water for their dried-up land.
The farmers are hesitating to accept it.
Farmers and the irrigation districts that supply water to farmers remain in a stalemate with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality over 120,000 acre-feet of water that Mexico offered up to the U.S.
This is the catch: If the farmers accept the water now, they will have to give up the water they already own and need for next year.
In mid-October, farmers and irrigation districts met with representatives from TCEQ and the International Boundary and Water Commission, the federal agency that oversees water treaties between the U.S. and Mexico, to discuss the offer.
It entails more than 120,000 acre-feet of water that Mexico offered up to the U.S. after heavy rains caused significant runoff from Mexico’s Marte Gomez reservoir, which is at 123.7% capacity.
If IBWC accepted the water and allocated it to Texas, TCEQ would be responsible for distributing the water within the state through their watermaster program based on who owned the rights to water.
Many water rights holders don’t have sufficient water for the planting season in the spring, said Sonny Hinojosa, a water advocate with the Hidalgo County Irrigation District No. 2. If TCEQ were to charge them for accepting the water being offered by Mexico now, the water they already own and which they intended to preserve for the next planting cycle, would be released for other uses.
“A farmer’s not going to invest in seed and prepping the land if he doesn’t see enough water stored behind the dam to finish out his crop,” Hinojosa said. “It’s too big of an investment.”
TCEQ told farmers and employees of irrigation districts who were present that not charging them for that water would be unfair to other water rights holders who don’t receive the San Juan river water, according to Hinojosa, who hopes to convince the department that everyone would benefit.
If they’re not charged and their current water is maintained in the reservoirs, that water could be reallocated to others if enough water comes in later from rain or other sources.
