IBWC head tells South Texas leaders Mexico will send ‘some water’

McALLEN, Texas ( Border Report ) — U.S. International Boundary and Water Commissioner Maria-Elena Giner this week told South Texas leaders in private that Mexico intends to send some of the water it owes but that won’t be enough, they worry, as the region and farmers suffer.

“There doesn’t seem to be any expectation that things are going to improve other than Mexico is sending us some water,” Hidalgo County Judge Richard Cortez told Border Report on Friday. “If that’s the case the only thing we can do in the short term is conservation and being efficient in the use of the water we do have.”

Cortez said he attended Tuesday’s meeting with Giner in Brownsville, Texas, where she spoke for about an hour. The talk was hosted by Cameron County Judge Eddie Treviño Jr. Also in attendance were: Texas state Rep. Janie Lopez, a Republican from District 37 and Hidalgo County Irrigation District No. 2 General Manager Sonny Hinojosa, who also is vice chairman of the Rio Grande Regional Water Planning Group , which oversees water conservation efforts for South Texas.

How much water and when Mexico will send it, however, is uncertain.

The meeting was closed to reporters and the public.

Border Report requested specific information and slides presented by Giner and the IBWC. But Border Report was told by a spokesman that “Commissioner Giner would like to hold off releasing the presentation until she’s had a chance to brief congressional staff next Friday (July 26).”

IBWC officials did say that Giner “met recently with key Lower Rio Grande stakeholders to provide an overview of the water situation in the river and update them on our efforts to negotiate a new Minute with Mexico,” according to a statement sent to Border Report. “Her agency was there to support the communities of the Rio Grande by increasing the predictability and reliability of water deliveries. She also emphasized that understanding the Rio Grande Basin through data and science was critical towards identifying needs and solutions.”

Border Report has learned that Giner told officials she is working with state and other federal officials, as well as representatives of CILA — Comision Internacional de Limites y Aguas — the Mexican section of the IBWC — to negotiate changes to the 1944 treaty that would allow South Texas to get an influx of water quicker.

The so-called “Rio Grande Minute Team” has been actively pursuing Mexico to sign off on changes to the treaty, which are called a “minute” since late last year.

Her visit this week came at the same time that U.S. Rep. Vicente Gonzalez, D-Texas, and a bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers were meeting in Mexico City with the current Mexican president and incoming Mexican President-elect Claudia Sheinbaum over trade and security issues, and that included talks about water

Gonzalez told Border Report that both Mexican leaders told U.S. lawmakers that Mexico intends to pay the United States some of the water it owes and sign off on the treaty changes in the proposed minute.

Under the 1944 international treaty, Mexico must pay the United States 1.75 million acre-feet of water over a five-year cycle. The current cycle ends in October 2025, but Mexico has barely paid one year’s worth of water, according to data from the U.S. Section of the IBWC.

The two area reservoirs are at historic low-water levels.

On Friday, Amistad Reservoir, outside Del Rio, Texas, was at 24% capacity, while Falcon Dam, in Starr County, was at 13.4%, according to the Texas Water Development Board.

Tom Vaughan, a biologist and retired professor from Texas A&M International University in Laredo, told Border Report that Amistad is ideal for water storage.

“Some of that water belongs to the U.S., some of it belongs to Mexico. And the United States prefers if we have a little bit of excess water, or water in general, we prefer to store it in Amistad Reservoir, upstream, because it has less surface area than Falcon, which is downstream. It’s a deeper lake so there’s less evaporation,” Vaughan said.

Treaty change sought

The change sought in the treaty’s minute would allow leaders in Mexico City to send water to the United States directly without having to send it to the border state of Tamaulipas.

Under the current treaty, for every acre-foot of water that Mexico sends to the United States, it must send 2 acre-feet of water to the Mexican border state of Tamaulipas.

“For every acre-foot of water they give us they have to give two to Tamaulipas,” said Jim Darling, former McAllen mayor and the chairman of the Rio Grande Regional Water Planning Group.

Darling wasn’t at Tuesday’s meeting, but he told Border Report on Friday that while he appreciated the attention recently given to the issue by U.S. Sens. Ted Cruz and John Cornyn — both Republicans from Texas who filed legislation recently to sanction Mexico when it faults on its water payments — Darling says it isn’t the right method. Other solutions need to be found, he said.

“Cornyn and Cruz I’m happy they’re helping us but there’s just not enough water in the river to meet demands,” Darling said.

Cortez said that some payment of water to the Rio Grande Valley likely won’t help farmers and growers.

“The people in the audience didn’t think it was going to really help agriculture,” Cortez said.

That’s because agriculture water needs are high and municipality needs supersede them in times of crisis. This means cities get priority for water deliveries over farmers.

Cortez in April declared a disaster in Hidalgo County due to the drought and lack of water payments.

That was after Texas’ only sugar mill shut down in the rural farming town of Santa Rosa, in far eastern Hidalgo County.

The citrus industry now fears its crops will falter in South Texas without enough water.

Long-term solutions

Cortez says the meeting was to hear from federal officials but he also hopes that local officials will come up with a regional long-term plan for better water deliveries in the future — without excess evaporation as the region’s current system of antiquated canals has caused.

“We’re trying to find solutions for a sustainable water source because it’s certainly not reliable right now,” he said.

Cortez says he is hoping to host another meeting with local leaders over water in early August.

Giner and IBWC officials also are expected to return to the Rio Grande Valley for their quarterly meeting in early August.

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

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