WESLACO, Texas - Maria-Elena Giner, head of the U.S. section of the International Boundary & Water Commission, recently visited the Rio Grande Valley for a federal-state stakeholders meeting.
Held at Texas AgriLife Research and Extension Center Auditorium in Weslaco, the meeting was attended by farmers, ranchers, irrigators and rural community leaders.
Giner spoke for about 16 minutes. Most of her speech focused on Mexico’s water debt to the United States under a 1944 international treaty. However, she also spoke briefly about ongoing efforts to repair Amistad Dam.
Under the 1944 water treaty, Mexico is obliged to send 1.75 million acre feet of water to the U.S. in a five year cycle. So, it should be averaging 350,000 acre feet per year. Giner said this is not currently happening.
“When I was here last year, it was really scary. There was only about 45 days of water left for some communities. We were down here and our reservoirs were reaching their lowest point. We were lucky in August. It rained and we got a bump up in our delivery. But, we’re still way below some of the driest years we've had,” Giner said.
“It puts a lot of pressure on this region and we realize that.”
Here are Giner’s remarks in full from the Weslaco meeting.
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