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Efforts underway to boost water supply across the Rio Grande Valley

Efforts underway to boost water supply across the Rio Grande Valley
1 month 3 days 10 hours ago Tuesday, August 06 2024 Aug 6, 2024 August 06, 2024 8:21 PM August 06, 2024 in News - Local

Finding water resources are a big concern across the Rio Grande Valley.

The Falcon and Amistad reservoirs that provide water to South Texas are currently at a combined storage of about 19.7%, which is close to the record low of 19.06% in 1998. 

Local leaders are working to find solutions.

On Tuesday, Congresswoman Monica De La Cruz announced the formation of the South Texas Water Working Group. 

The group will work to find solutions and strategies to try and solve the region's water issues, according to a news release.

READ MORE: Data shows Rio Grande water shortage is not just due to Mexico’s lack of water deliveries

“The goal is to find what is being done successfully in other areas and bring those ideas down to the district, and tap into resources available on a state and federal level,” De La Cruz said.

The group is made of 20 community, industry, city and county leaders across South Texas. De La Cruz said the group is still looking for community leaders who may want to join.

Cities are also finding other water resources by searching underground. 

On Tuesday, Raymondville city leaders broke ground on a $1. 7 million project to build a second water well.

The city currently uses about 1.4 million gallons of water a day, and the second well can supply up to 800,000 gallons of groundwater daily.

The project is being funded through a federal grant that Congressman Vicente Gonzalez voted for. 

“Over a million dollars of this project came from the American Rescue Plan funding we were able to get last cycle,” Gonzalez said at the groundbreaking ceremony. “We are bringing funding for new water projects."

Channel 5 News was told the second water well is estimated to be completed in early 2025.

Watch the video above for the full story. 

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