McALLEN, Texas (Border Report) — U.S. International Border and Water Commissioner Maria-Elena Giner privately told South Texas leaders this week that Mexico plans to deliver some of the water it is owed to Mexico, but they fear it will not be enough as the region and its farmers suffer.

“There doesn’t seem to be any expectation that things are going to improve, other than Mexico 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 conserve and efficiently manage the water that we have.”

Cortez said he attended Tuesday’s meeting with Giner in Brownsville, Texas, where she spoke for about an hour. The talk was moderated 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 is also vice chair of the Rio Grande Regional Water Planning Group, which oversees water conservation efforts for South Texas.

However, exactly how much water Mexico will send and when is uncertain.

The meeting was closed to journalists and the public.

Border Report requested specific information and slides presented by Giner and the IBWC. However, Border Report was told by a spokesperson that “Commissioner Giner wishes to postpone the presentation until she has had a chance to brief conference staff next Friday (July 26).”

IBWC officials said Giner “recently met with key stakeholders in the Lower Rio Grande 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 Rio Grande communities by increasing the predictability and reliability of water deliveries. She also emphasized that understanding the Rio Grande Basin through data and science was critical to identifying needs and solutions.”

Border Report has learned that Giner has told officials she is working with state and federal officials, as well as representatives of CILA (Comision Internacional de Limites y Aguas), the Mexican branch of the IBWC, to negotiate changes to the 1944 treaty that would allow water to flow to South Texas more quickly.

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

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 met in Mexico City with the current Mexican president and incoming Mexican President-elect Claudia Sheinbaum on trade and security issues, including talks on water

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

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 paid for just one year’s worth of water, according to data from the U.S. chapter of the IBWC.

The two water reservoirs in the area are at a historically low water level.

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

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

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

Treaty amendment sought

The change proposed in the treaty minutes would allow leaders in Mexico City to send water directly to the United States, without having to send it to the border state of Tamaulipas.

Under the current treaty, for every acre-foot of water sent to the United States, Mexico 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 mayor of McAllen and chairman of the Rio Grande Regional Water Planning Group.

Darling was not present at Tuesday’s meeting, but he told Border Report on Friday that he appreciated the recent attention given to the issue by U.S. Senators Ted Cruz and John Cornyn — both Texas Republicans who recently introduced legislation to punish Mexico for defaulting on its water payments — but Darling said it’s not the right approach. Other solutions need to be found, he said.

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

Cortez said a water payment to the Rio Grande Valley likely wouldn’t help farmers and gardeners.

“People in the audience didn’t think it would really help agriculture,” Cortez said.

This is because water demand in agriculture is high and the needs of municipalities exceed these in times of crisis. This means that cities are given priority in water supplies over farmers.

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

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

The citrus industry now fears that crops in South Texas will fail if there is not enough water.

Long term solutions

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

“We are trying to find solutions for a sustainable water source because it is certainly not reliable at the moment,” he said.

Cortez says he hopes to host another meeting with local leaders about water in early August.

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

You can contact Sandra Sanchez at [email protected].