RGV WATER WOES DATE PRIOR TO DEPENDENCE ON MEXICO

Special to El Rrun-Rrun
Even before the current water woes facing South Texas and Cameron County that have brought out the howls of protest against Mexico for not giving us our share from the Rio Grande watershed, that liquid has been at the crux of the region's economic development.
The first Spanish land grant settlers used water from the Rio Grande to feed their large herds of cattle and an early Spanish explorer scratched off the area of present-day Brownsville-Matamoros for lack of suitable water for ranching and farming.
"Beginning in January 1747, Miguel de la Garza Falcón reconnoitered the north bank of the Rio Grande from the site of modern Eagle Pass to the mouth of the river, which he reached on March 3. He listed the numerous Indian groups in the area and described the land as unfit for settlement because of the inadequate fresh water supply," states report by the Texas State Historical Association.

Nonetheless, "On February 27, 1747, Jose de Escandón built a raft to sound the Rio Grande north of present-day Matamoros, Tamaulipas, and crossed into what is now Cameron County. A royal inspection made in 1757 by Jose Tienda Cuervo recommended that titles to the land in the area be given to the colonists. In 1765 the community of San Juan de los Esteros (present-day Matamoros) was established south of the Rio Grande. In 1781 Spanish authorities granted fifty-nine leagues of land lying on the north bank of the river (including all of the site of Brownsville) to José Salvador de la Garza, who established a ranch about sixteen miles northwest of the site. A number of other grants were made in the area before April 18, 1789, when Juan José Ballí was granted the San Salvador del Tule area...

During the latter half of the nineteenth century Cameron County's economy, as in former times, was based largely on ranching. Almost all the land in the county remained in ranches, mostly owned by a few wealthy landholders. Farming showed a marked increase in the period just after the Civil War but dropped off dramatically after 1880, in large part because of a lack of ready access to outside markets. The number of improved acres in the county grew from 4,354 to 116,989 between 1870 and 1880, but declined over the next decade to just over 31,000. During this period corn was the leading crop, with vegetables and other foods accounting for most of the rest of the harvest. Irrigation was introduced on a small scale during the 1880s, afterGeorge Paul Brulay built the first successful irrigation system in South Texas near Brownsville in 1876; but watered land remained a tiny fraction of the land under cultivation...

During the late teens and 1920s Cameron County underwent a new period of prosperity as the area experienced a prolonged land boom. Enterprising agents went to the Midwest and North hawking the cheap abundant land in and around Brownsville. Special trains were dispatched to bring prospective buyers to the area, and during the height of the boom in the early 1920s as many as 200 land-seekers a day were being brought into the town and its environs. The new settlers cleared the land of brush, built extensive irrigation systems and roads, and introduced large-scale truck farming. In 1904 H. G. Stillwell, Sr., planted the first commercial citrus orchard in the area, opening the way for what was to become one of the Valley's leading industries."

The rest, as people say, is history. Today, water is critical not only to the agricultural, but also to the manufacturing and industries as well. A 1954 report by the Texas Board of Water Engineers called "Ground-Water Resources of Cameron County, Texas, (Bulletin 5403) written in 1954, gives us this portrait of our area.

"Cameron County, the southernmost county of Texas, has a population (1950) of about 125,000 persons supported largely by irrigated crops and by industries for processing crops. Water for irrigation and public supplies is obtained mainly from the Rio Grande, but supplementary and emergency supplies of ground

water are obtained from sand and gravel of Recent age in the southwestern part of the county.

In the northwestern part of the county shallow wells yield small amounts of water for domestic and stock use, but deeper wells for irrigation purposes yield highly mineralized water: in the eastern part only a few shallow wells yield potable water." 

In 1954, the report stated that the researchers had inspected 325 water wells and performed chemical analyses of samples of water obtained from 200 wells.

In the economic development section of the 1954 report, the researchers state that: "The economy of Cameron County is dependent on intensive agricultural production, industry, shipping, and tourist trade. Farming is practiced throughout the county, the main crops being cotton, tomatoes, cabbage, potatoes, carrots, and lettuce. The largest income is from cotton. The freezes of 1949 and 1950 diminished citrus production and led to an increase in the cotton acreage. Cameron County produced about 137,000 bales of cotton in 1950. Dairying is practiced extensively, and some beef cattle and poultry are produced...Commercial canning is an important factor in the economy of the county. Harlingen is the site of 50 industries, notably cotton byproducts and food products."

As time went on, water from the Rio Grande replaced ground water as the main source of irrigation for local crops. That is because the annual rainfall fluctuated drastically from year to year between 1850 and 1952, the last year included in that report. During this period, precipitation ranged from a low of 8.8 inches in 1878 to a high of 60.80 in 1855 . The annual average during the period from 1849-1953 was 27.21 inches.

Were agriculture to depend solely on river water, it is plain that extended droughts in northern Mexico and South Texas – as we have experienced now – will not provide the water necessary to sustain this industry.

The treaty between the U.S. and Mexico requires Mexico to give the United States 1.75 million acre-feet of water within five-year cycles unless the country faces extraordinary drought or accidents to its hydraulic system, which would make it difficult to deliver the required volumes.

Mexico has delivered about 407,980 acre-feet since the current cycle began in October 2010.

This has led some smaller water supply managers to turn to groundwater to satisfy their customer needs.

Brian Macmanus, director of the East Rio Hondo Water Supply Corporation, who said his agency plans a $1.5 million project to drill a second water well to serve its 25,000 customers, said it was time to consider alternative water sources.

A small rancher in southeast Cameron County says his father drilled a well there in the 1960s that is still producing fresh (agua dulce) to feed their small cattle herd and provide water for domestic use on the ranch.

"It's really not the little guy who is going to be impacted by the smaller volume of water available from the river and from Mexico," he said. "It's the large consolidated agribusiness interests that will be hurting."