Despite recent heavy rains and the Amistad and Falcon reservoirs being nearly full, the time to plan for future water needs along the Rio Grande — especially during times of drought — is now.
The Rio Grande Regional Water Planning Group (Rio Grande RWPG), one of 16 regional water planning groups around the state, will hold a public hearing at 11 a.m. Wednesday, at the Laredo Public Library, 1120 E. Calton Road, in order to receive public comments on a revised regional water plan. The planning group represents a wide range of stakeholders, such as irrigationdistricts, water utilities, cities, counties, environmental groups, small businesses and large industries. It has been working for the past year to update the 2005-06 regional water plan with new information. The revised and updated plan is known as the Initially Prepared Plan (IPP). Physical copies of the IPP were distributed last month to county clerks’ offices and certain libraries in the eight-county region in order to give the general public an opportunity to read the plan. The regional water plan is also available online at www.riograndewaterplan.org. Chapter 4 is a key chapter because it outlines the recommended strategies to meet water demands for the next 50 years. Those strategies include municipal and agricultural water conservation, acquisition of additional water rights from the Rio Grande, increased water recycling for non-potable use, and desalination of seawater and brackish groundwater. The deadline to comment is Monday, June 28, 2010. Comments received by the deadline will be incorporated into a new plan that will be submitted to the Texas Water Development Board on Sept. 1,
2010. All meetings of the Rio Grande RWPG are open to the public and include opportunities
for public comment. For more information, visit www.riograndewaterplan. org.
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