Antonio Uresti said he’s watched the Rio Grande Valley irrigation districts lose between 25% and 50% of the water pumped from the Rio Grande River before it reaches any customers, whether farmers, ranchers, local businesses, or residential households.
That’s because the century-old canal infrastructure is prone to both evaporation and seepage into the ground.
“When you’re running a department, and you have a 50% loss, you can’t be successful in the long term because you’ll eventually go bankrupt,” Uresti, general manager of the Hidalgo County Irrigation District No. 6, told the Rio Grande Valley Business Journal.
Nearly two dozen irrigation districts exist, but the market has consolidated due to financial challenges. The customer area of District No. 6 includes sections of Palmview and Alton in addition to unincorporated areas.
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Kristen Mosbrucker-Garza
Reporter
Kristen Mosbrucker-Garza is a versatile multimedia news reporter who lives and works along the Texas-Mexico border in Hidalgo County. Mosbrucker-Garza is a news reporter for the Rio Grande Valley Business Journal. During her career she's worked for the McAllen Monitor, San Antonio Business Journal, The Advocate Newspaper in Louisiana, Phoenix New Times, and public media outlets in Baltimore and Philadelphia.
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