In South Texas, aging water system meets growing population

[riversedge]

Gov Abbott is out messing with peoples lives--no masks, vaccine bans, abortion ban, etc. and we see he can not even care for the people of his state.







In South Texas, aging water system meets growing population

https://apnews.com/article/climate-change-science-business-texas-droughts-6c9ef910eea9adc40df4e4fa5e9d1bcc


By SUMAN NAISHADHAM an hour ago



A man casts a net into a canal, Tuesday, Sept. 14, 2021, in McAllen, Texas. Canals used to deliver water in many parts of the Rio Grande Valley lose anywhere from 10% to 40% of the water they carry to seepage and evaporation, according to the Texas Water Development Board, making water a growing concern amid climate change and rising demand that scientists predict will lead to water shortages in the region by 2060.(AP Photo/Eric Gay)
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McALLEN, Texas (AP) — On a scorching afternoon in South Texas, Sonia Lambert looked out at an open-air canal that carries mud-green water from the Rio Grande to nearby towns and farmland, losing much of it to evaporation and seepage along the way.

“That will be someone else’s problem,” Lambert said, referring to her upcoming retirement as head of an irrigation district near the U.S.-Mexico border.

In the Rio Grande Valley, a canal system designed more than a century ago for agriculture still delivers water to the region’s lush farmland and fast-growing towns and cities. Today, the canals lose as much as 40% of the water they carry, waste that experts say could contribute to steep water shortages in coming decades as the population grows and climate change intensifies droughts.



“As this region continues to become drier due to climate change, water supplies will be greatly reduced,” said Guy Fipps, a professor of irrigation engineering at Texas A&M University who has studied the water system since 1998.


State water officials predict that over the next 50 years, demand for water in the area’s cities and towns will double. For decades, McAllen developed at a dizzying pace, with newcomers drawn to a large free-trade zone and jobs in health care, education and retail. Between 1990 and 2020, McAllen and the neighboring cities of Edinburg and Mission grew sixfold to nearly 871,000 people, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Similarly, the Mexican cities of Reynosa and Matamoros across the border mushroomed after U.S.-owned assembly plants were established in the mid-1990s. ...................................

[dixiegrrrrl]

1. Arizona and Nevada continue to brag about their growing communities

thousands of people who fled Cal. since the 2000s have moved there, more and more desert is being scraped to plant huge houses with swimming pools, etc, in effect Californization of those states.
It is not sustainable. People in Cal. are seriously talking about how to get water from the Mississippi to the SW. They KNOW they are running out of water, and instead of water abatement actions, they are looking elsewhere to get bailed out.