Mexico provides water to South Texas. But there is a catch that farmers are not happy with.

Subscribe to The Y’all – a weekly broadcast about the people, places and policies that define Texas, produced by Texas Tribune journalists living in communities across the state.

---

McALLEN – Farmers in the Rio Grande Valley who have seen their industries destroyed by insufficient rain and depleting water supplies have been offered a modest but useful amount of water for their parched land.

The farmers are reluctant to accept it.

Farmers and the irrigation districts that supply water to farmers remain in a standoff with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality over the 120,000 acre-feet of water Mexico has offered to the U.S.

Here’s the catch: If farmers accept the water now, they will have to give up the water they already own and need for next year.

In mid-October, farmers and irrigation districts met with representatives from TCEQ and the International Boundary and Water Commission, the federal agency that oversees water treaties between the U.S. and Mexico, to discuss the supply.

This involves more than 120,000 hectares of water that Mexico offered to the US after heavy rains caused significant discharge from Mexico’s Marte Gomez reservoir, which has a capacity of 123.7%.

If IBWC were to accept the water and allocate it to Texas, TCEQ would be responsible for distributing the water within the state through their water master program, based on who owned the rights to water.

Many water rights holders don’t have enough water for the spring planting season, said Sonny Hinojosa, a water attorney with the Hidalgo County Irrigation District No. 2. If TCEQ were to charge them for accepting the water Mexico is now offering, the water they already own and wanted to save for the next planting cycle would be released for other uses.

“A farmer is not going to invest in seed and land preparation if he doesn’t see that there is enough water stored behind the dam to complete his crop,” Hinojosa said. “It’s too big an investment.”

TCEQ told farmers and employees of the existing irrigation districts that not charging for that water would be unfair to other water rights holders who do not receive the San Juan River water, according to Hinojosa, who hopes to convince the department that everyone does would do. advantage.

If they are not recharged and their current water is held in the reservoirs, that water can be reallocated to others if enough water comes in later from rain or other sources.

“The water that we don’t ask to be released for us stays behind the dam, and when there is the next allocation, everyone gets a piece of the pie,” he said.

The Falcon and Amistad reservoirs supply water to farmers and irrigation districts in the Rio Grande Valley, but levels there remain low due to a lack of sufficient rainfall to meet farmers’ needs.

The U.S. side of the reservoirs would also have to receive water from Mexico, under a 1944 treaty. Mexico must supply 1,750,000 million acre-feet of water to the U.S. from six tributaries every five years, or an average of 350,000 per year . But Mexico has fallen behind, with a balance of more than 1.3 million acre-feet it must deliver by the October 2025 deadline.

The San Juan River is not one of those six tributaries, but if that water is accepted it would be credited with Mexico’s water debt.

It is important that agreement is reached quickly on the water offered, because that water threatens to flow over the dam.

“There is a danger if rain falls in this region and the water starts flowing,” said Maria-Elena Giner, IBWC commissioner. “The other thing is that if we’re not going to use some of that water, or if that commitment isn’t made soon, others in Mexico may say, ‘well, we’ll keep it, and we’ll use it for other purposes.’ our users.”

It’s that urgency that led Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller to issue an executive order last week authorizing farmers and irrigation districts to use water from the Rio Grande.

“Every day is critical,” Miller said, adding that TCEQ’s hands were tied on the issue. “By the time they got through the red tape, I was afraid the water was already out of the gulf.”

But Miller’s authority to give farmers that access is questionable at best. TCEQ said water rights were governed by the Texas Water Code and TCEQ regulations.

“All Texans along the Rio Grande must continue to meet these requirements,” a TCEQ spokesperson wrote in an email.

The department added that it continued to work with local stakeholders and the IBWC in negotiating water supplies from Mexico.

The IBWC said they appreciated Miller’s efforts to help producers and irrigation districts in South Texas. Giner said the agency continues to urge Mexico to come up with a plan to address the shortage and make up for their water deliveries.

The Rio Grande Valley reporting is supported in part by the Methodist Healthcare Ministries of South Texas, Inc.