Galeazzi ensures in-depth discussion on water shortage at RGV Hispanic Chamber event

12 hours ago 16

EDINBURG, Texas – It took a member of the audience to bring up the subject of the Rio Grande Valley’s water shortage at the RGV Hispanic Chamber of Commerce’s “State of the RGV” event.

In the Q&A section, Dante Galeazzi, president and CEO of the Texas International Produce Association, said things are not only bad for agriculture in the region but also, potentially, for residents living in unincorporated areas.

“Judge Cortez, you said it very well. More than half of the residents in the Valley are living in unincorporated areas. Those are often the folks that have no guarantee of water, because it has to pass through the irrigation districts,” Galeazzi said.

“The water shortage is getting more and more drastic. We’ve seen water shortage letters go out to everybody. Unincorporated areas are the ones that might have their water shut off first, and those citizens would have to drive to major cities to get their everyday water needs, let alone the impact to agriculture.”

The panel Galeazzi pitched his question to consisted of Hidalgo County Judge Richard Cortez, Cameron County Judge Eddie Treviño, Jr., Starr County Judge Eloy Vera, and Willacy County Commissioner Ernie Garcia, who was filling in for Willacy County Judge Aurelio Guerra.

“You have more than 9,000 direct jobs involved with irrigated agriculture. You have another three to four times that amount of jobs for companies like trucking, chemicals, tractor sales, finance all those things. And so, we are continuing to see that impact as we have this water shortage,” Galeazzi said.

“We aren’t seeing the region step up and do enough for water infrastructure. So, I’d love to hear what what we are doing, or what you gentlemen are doing as our leadership to help address that issue, because it is a tremendous concern, not just for agriculture, but for the citizens and the communities that are involved around agriculture, especially those in unincorporated areas.”

Judge Cortez was the first to respond.

“It’s obvious that we have a water problem. The meeting that we the four county judges had, in Weslaco, was exactly about that, trying to find alternative sources of water. There is not going to be a quick solution, but we’re looking at it.”

Cortez said he believes a $700,000 grant could be coming to the region from the North American Development Bank.

“That will help us study the situation and give us ideas as to what are alternative sources of water. But we hear you. We understand perfectly well. But I hope no one here in this room believes that there’s a quick solution to the problem that we have, because there isn’t,” Cortez added.

Judge Treviño responded next.

“We are looking at different options, but it goes back to the exact same problem and solution that you all have asked with regards to the other issues, it’s a lack of resources. It’s a lack of money. We have all these demands, and many of them are good problems to have, but the lack of water…”

Treviño said the Valley’s water delivery system was designed back in the 1940s and 1950s.

“It was premised upon the fact that we’d have a hurricane every once in a while, (and it would) fill up the dams at Amistad and Falcon and take care of our then-agricultural society. Well, the Valley has changed by leaps and bounds and is no longer just an agricultural society. So, the lack of planning, the lack of water infrastructure, the lack of the absolute resource is coming to catch us.”

Treviño said the region could look to the Gulf of Mexico but warned the cost of desalination is “extremely expensive.” He said that when he was mayor of Brownsville, the city opened Southmost Regional Water Authority. He said SRWA runs a brackish groundwater desalination plant.

“That was one of the options that Judge Cortez and Judge Vera and Judge Guerra and I were talking about. But again, we are working on some ideas, some possible solutions. But it’s all a factor of making sure or finding the monies in order to help us address that need.”

In his response to TIPA’s Galeazzi, Judge Vera pointed out that Starr County was close to Falcon Lake.

“I don’t know if y’all have driven over there, towards Zapata, but you can’t see the water from US 83. It’s so low,” Vera said. “But this is an issue that’s above our pay grade. This is a federal government issue. They need to force Mexico to pay us their water. And that goes back to the federal government. But we do need to come up with alternatives to so that we don’t rely on that.”

Later in the Q&A, McAllen Monitor news reporter Dina Arévalo made sure the panel returned to the topic of water scarcity.

“Getting back to the issue of water. Judge Vera, you said it’s a federal issue; that the federal government needs to get Mexico to pay us our water. The fact of the matter is, Mexico no longer has enough water physically to give us, even if they gave us every last drop.”

Arévalo said South Texas ended 2024 with the lowest volumes of water in the history of its reservoirs.

“Next month, farmers have to make decisions about whether or not they’re going to plant any crops, and in August of 2024 we were so low on water in our reservoirs that Amistad Reservoir almost lost the ability to generate power,” Arévalo said.

As you all, I’m sure, know, both of our dams have power generation facilities. We got to the point where those June rains saved us, but we almost lost power generation. So, it’s not just a federal issue, it’s a local issue.”

Arévalo added: “So, my question to all four of you gentlemen is, if we’re already starting this year off at the lowest point ever, if our reservoirs reach critical levels, what plans are you guys working on? What methods are you putting in place to provide municipal and unincorporated water if we don’t have anything in the river?”

Editor’s Note: Here is a video recording of the discussion on the water shortage at the RGV Hispanic Chamber of Commerce event: