Institute-led initiative receives $2.3 million grant to address water quantity, quality in  Lower Rio Grande Valley

Contacts: Kevin Wagner, 979-845-2649, [email protected]

Jaime Flores, 956-969-5607, [email protected]

COLLEGE STATION—A Texas Water Resources Institute-led initiative has received a $2.3 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service to address water quantity and water quality concerns in the Lower Rio Grande Valley.

The Lower Rio Grande Valley Water Improvement Initiative is being funded through the Regional Conservation Partnership Program, a new program authorized by the 2014 Farm Bill. The program promotes coordination between the Natural Resources Conservation Service and its partners to deliver conservation assistance to producers and landowners.

Natural Resources Conservation Service state conservationist Salvador Salinas announced the new initiative Jan. 15 at a news conference in College Station.

Dr. Kevin Wagner, the water institute’s associate director, said project partners will work together to improve management of nutrients and irrigation water in t he Valley. The Texas Water Resources Institute is part of Texas A&M AgriLife Research, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service and the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Texas A&M University.

“The Lower Rio Grande Valley is experiencing significant population growth, which puts greater pressure on the limited water supplies and increases the need for improved irrigation efficiency,” Wagner said at the news conference. “Along with the limited supplies, degraded water quality, particularly from nutrients, necessitates improved nutrient management. Although addressing water quantity is the primary concern, the importance of water quality and quantity are inseparable and intricately linked in the Valley.”

Wagner said the five-year project will address the Valley’s water quantity and quality concerns through improved irrigation delivery and scheduling, as well as innovative irrigation techniques and technologies.

“These innovations will decrease water use, improve productivity and reduce irrigation return flows, thus reducing nutrient and sediment loading to local water bodies,” he said.

According to the Natural Resources Conservation Service, the initiative encompasses 1.59 million acres in Cameron, Hidalgo and Willacy counties, and includes the lower Rio Grande, Arroyo Colorado and north Floodway.

“All these water bodies are important sources of freshwater inflows that ultimately reach the Gulf of Mexico,” Salinas said.

Wagner said the $2.3 million will be leveraged with more than $7 million in in-kind contributions from project partners: Texas State Soil and Water Conservation Board, Harlingen Irrigation District, Rio Grande Regional Water Authority, Black and Veatch, and Cameron County Irrigation District #2.

Jaime Flores, a water institute program coordinator who also serves as the Arroyo Colorado Partnership coordinator, said the project partners will coordinate water conservation and water quality activities in the Rio Grande Valley.

“Working through existing regional planning efforts, this initiative will provide additional technical and financial assistance to agricultural producers in the Valleysupported by extensive outreach and education,” said Flores, who is located in Weslaco.

“This partnership allows for a strong and enhanced approach to addressing the water quantity and water quality challenges facing farmers and ranchers in the Lower Rio Grande Valley,” Salinas said. “NRCS and partners working through RCPP projects will help in bringing new ideas and technologies to production agriculture in the Valley.”

The Texas Water Resources Institute is also a collaborator on the only other state Regional Conservation Partnership Program project funded in Texas, the Texas Gulf Coast Stream and Wetland Initiative led by the Resource Institute, Inc., which also was announced at the news conference. It focuses on the restoration and protection of headwater stream and wetland systems on cropland, grassland, rangeland and pastureland within a contiguous 54-county area that includes portions of six major rivers in the Texas Gulf Coast region, according to the Natural Resources Conservation Service.

The Natural Resources Conservation Service works with private landowners nationwide to identify and address natural resource objectives and implement conservation practices and activities to deliver environmental benefits locally, regionally and nationally.