Texas Border Business
EDINBURG – In March of 2024, Hidalgo County Commissioners Court engaged Austin-based H20 Partners to coordinate the development of a countywide plan to address projected water shortages in the coming summer months.
As of March 30, 2024, United States ownership of water at the Amistad and Falcon international reservoirs stood at 22 percent. That is the lowest starting point for U.S. ownership at these reservoirs since records began being kept.
H20 Partners will be available to work with all water suppliers in Hidalgo County including municipalities; water supply corporations; utility districts; and irrigation districts to assist in developing a cohesive response to water availability issues.
As part of the strategic exercise, Hidalgo County Judge Richard F. Cortez has sent requests for information to the United States section of the International Boundary and Water Commission as well as the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.
“We started our analysis by looking at the water that Mexico owes us, but we also realized that mathematically Mexico’s non-compliance with the Treaty of 1944 doesn’t account for all our missing water.” Judge Cortez said. “So now we need to see where the rest of our water is and why it isn’t reaching us.”
The request for information specifically references the named and unnamed Mexican and United States tributaries to the Rio Grande that feed the international reservoirs at Amistad and Falcon.
This request for information comes on the heels of Judge Cortez’s disaster declaration issued on Tuesday April 9, 2024, which activated the county’s emergency management plan and allows Hidalgo County to begin to tap into statewide funding to mitigate any drought related problems, including an ongoing threat of wildfire.
See The requests for information below:
