Water Woes Worsen for Valley Farmers

USIBWC Officials Hear Pleas for Help

by Bill Keltner/LFN

The message from the speakers at the Lower Rio Grande Citizens Forum was that the lower Rio Grande Levee Rehabilitation projects are on schedule with more than 90% completed in most sections of the Valley flood control system. The USIBWC engineers also promised that progress was being made in getting Mexico to live up to their obligation under the terms of the 1944 Water Treaty to release their required stored-up water for Rio Grande Valley farmers.

That message only set the stage for a lively, jam-packed meeting at The USIBWC Conference Room in Mercedes last week. For the desperate farmers who came to express their displeasure with what has been done so far by both Mexico and the United States government, it was not enough. Their time came to plea for more action.

The meeting began with Rodolfo Montero, USIBWC, Citizens Forum Co-Chair, welcoming the guests and introducing the first speaker on the program agenda, Carlos Pena. Pena is the USIBWC Principal Engineer.

Pena acknowledged the plight of Valley farmers and gave some figures that underscored everyone’s concern. Mexico is far behind in releasing stored water owed the United States from the agreement to share river water under Article 4 of the 1944 Treaty. Mexico has delivered about 58% of what would be expected to date. The deepening drought and dwindling water supplies have caused an outcry even though USIBWC officials say they are making concerted efforts at several levels to get Mexico to comply. But that is not enough for Valley farmers. They want action at a higher level.

The two dams on the Rio Grande built after the 1944 Treaty are at dangerously low levels. Levels at Amistad dam are at 32% of normal conservation feet. Falcon dam is worse at 20% of normal conservation levels. The combined storage at Amistad and Falcon is 31.5 % for the United States and 17% for the Mexican side. These are the figures that concern farmers in the region.

Next on the program was Ramon F. Navarro, USIBWC Civil Engineer, who oversees the Lower Rio Grande Levee Rehabilitation Projects in Hidalgo and Cameron counties.

Navarro stated the a progress report has been submitted to FEMA certifying that 17 Valley floodway control packages are about 95% completed, and work on them should be finished by year’s end. “The 188 miles of flood control projects will increase river capacity and flood flow as part of a greater flood control program,” he said.

The attending farmers and interested citizens got their chance to sound off during the final part of the program. One after another desperate farmer deplored the failure of Mexico to deliver what is due now that “we are losing 100s of 1000s of dollars in this merciless drought” said one farmer.

“We don’t want promises, we want relief now—Many of us are just one step ahead of foreclosure,” stressed another.
Another spokesman for the farmers asked, “If Mexico is not going to comply, then you need to step up efforts to get the President and the State Department directly involved with their top counterparts in Mexico.” A motion was made to send a petition signed by 10,000 to 50,000 signers directly to Washington to plea for action at the highest level of the two governments.

The plight of farmers and the worsening water woes will be the subject of the next quarterly LOWER RIO GRANDE CITIZENS FORUM to be held at the USIBWC Conference room at 325 Golf Course Road in Mercedes, Texas at a date to be announced.

The meeting ended with assurances from the USIBWC representatives that the border river area has high priority in Austin and Washington. For more information or comments, requests can be directed to www.ibwc.state.gov.