Mexico sending water to border town of Reynosa

McALLEN, Texas ( Border Report ) — Water restrictions on the Mexican border town of Reynosa appear to be easing as Mexican authorities are working to send additional supplies to the region, according to reports.

The mayor of Reynosa, Carlos Peña Ortiz, has requested a meeting with authorities of the Comision Nacional del Agua (CONAGUA) who are responsible for the supply of water from the Rio Grande to the region, according to a post by the government of Reynosa on X.

On Aug. 20, Texas state Rep. Terry Canales, D-Edinburg, announced that Reynosa was enacting water restrictions due to long-standing drought and a lack of water supplies in the Rio Grande.

Canales made the announcement during the Deep South Texas State of Water Symposium that drew leaders, ranchers and agriculture specialists from throughout the region who are concerned about a lack of water in the Rio Grande.

About 90% of the drinking water and all irrigation water for South Texas comes from the Rio Grande, which has been shrinking over the past decade.

Now it’s down even more as Mexico has failed to pay annual water installments that it owes to the United States under a 1944 water treaty.

Mexico has only paid about 400,500 acre-feet of water so far this five-year cycle. But it owes a total of 1.75 million acre-feet by October 2025, a ccording to the latest data by the International Boundary and Water Commission.

As of Wednesday, the two area U.S. reservoirs were at critical lows. Amistad Reservoir, near Del Rio, was at 19% capacity; Falcon Dam, in Starr County, was at 10%, according to the IBWC .

Texas’ only sugar mill shut down in February in Hidalgo County, and the citrus crops in the Rio Grande Valley are threatened by the lack of water.

Under the treaty, one-third of all water deliveries by Mexico must go to the border state of Tamaulipas and that is causing a decrease in supplies to the United States.

The U.S. head of the IBWC is trying to negotiate an amendment to the treaty — called a minute — that would allow Mexico to pay water to the United States without sending it to Tamaulipas.

Américo Villarreal, governor of of the Mexican state of Tamaulipas, which includes the city of Reynosa, last week reached an agreement with CONAGUA, the nation’s water commission “to largely increase the supply of drinking water to the city of Reynosa,” according to a post on X on Saturday by the Mexican newspaper El Mañana de Reynosa .

Sandra Sanchez can be reached at SSanchez@BorderReport.com.

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