Doesn’t seem like a great position to be in.
South Texas was prepared for a deluge.
City officials distributed sandbags and planned road closures. Gov. Greg Abbott declared a state of disaster before Tropical Storm Alberto, which was projected to dump up to eight inches of rain in the Rio Grande Valley.
But by the time the storm passed, the four-county region in the southernmost part of Texas only saw about half that. The shortfall was good news for residents concerned with flooding. And yet, it was hardly enough to raise the level of water in two reservoirs that serve the millions of people along the Texas-Mexico border.
The levels at the Amistad International and Falcon International reservoirs remain near or at record lows. The lack of water threatens the region’s agricultural industry and residential users alike. Earlier this year, the last sugar mill in Texas announced its closure after 50 years due to water scarcity and local agriculture leaders worry citrus could be next.
The Falcon reservoir is at approximately 11%. The reservoir saw a slight uptick from a record low of 8.8% on May 28 partly thanks to the rains from Alberto. Meanwhile the Amistad Reservoir, which did not receive much rain, is at a record-breaking low of about 19% as of Monday morning, according to Barry Goldsmith, a meteorologist from the National Weather Service in Brownsville.
The low water reserves are partly due to the lack of water deliveries from Mexico that are required under a 1944 treaty between the two countries. Mexico is required to deliver water to the U.S. from six tributaries that feed into the Rio Grande. In exchange, the U.S. delivers water from the Colorado River to Mexico.
But Mexico’s own drought has led the country to fall behind on its deliveries, raising doubts about whether it will be able to release the 1,750,000 acre-feet of water it is required to by the end of the current five-year cycle which ends in October 2025.
Without water from Mexico, farmers are hoping for an especially active hurricane season and there is reason to be hopeful.
We’ve heard plenty about this year’s hurricane season, but that’s the first time I’ve seen the word “hopeful” attached to it. I get it, they need a lot of water, and these storms deliver exactly that. Still feels weird to be expressing it like this, especially given how big Hurricane Beryl has become already. I hope they can get what they need without it causing too much collateral damage. In the meantime, having an actual response to the current and future climate conditions would also be nice.
There is so much the is bad in the vile Project 2025, but one horrid idea that would especially hurt us is the proposal to gut funding for NOAA and privatize the NWS:
https://amp.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/apr/26/trump-presidency-gut-noaa-weather-climate-crisis
NOAA is in their crosshairs because it promotes “climate alarmism”. That’s getting into cartoon villain territory.