Mexican drought spurs a south Texas crisis

  • 16.08.2022
  • Texas Observer

Northern Mexico’s water crisis is spilling into Texas, drying out the two bi-national reservoirs of the Rio Grande, on which millions of people and a billion dollars in agriculture rely.

One reservoir, Lake Falcon, is just nine percent full. Nearby communities are scrambling to extend water intakes and install auxiliary pumps to capture its final dregs. The other reservoir, Amistad, is at less than one third.

In far South Texas, the two most populous counties issued disaster declarations last week, while others struggle to keep up with the unfolding crisis. If big rains don’t come, current supplies will run dry in March of 2023 for some three million people who live along both sides of the river in its middle and lower reaches.