An interview with Judge Aurelio Guerra and LRGVDC Executive Director Manuel Cruz

WESLACO, Texas - The four county judges in the Rio Grande Valley have asked the Lower Rio Grande Valley Development Council to be part of a new water management plan for the region.

The Lower Rio Grande Valley Water Management Plan aims to advance regional water solutions for the Valley. The plan is being funded by the North American Development Bank with Halff brought in as lead organizer.

“We were recruited to participate in the RGV Water Management Plan advisory committee and the first meeting was held yesterday at the Rio Grande Valley Partnership,” said Manuel 'Manny' Cruz, executive director of LRGVDC, at the group’s July meeting. 

“The project is being funded by NADBank. They hired a consultant, Halff Associates to create the plan; to develop a water management plan.”

NADBank has produced a brochure that explains the plan.

“The Water Management Plan for the Lower Rio Grande Valley is a coordinated regional effort to help communities, water providers, irrigation districts, groundwater districts, and elected officials to identify longterm sustainable water solutions,” the brochure states

“Led by the county commissioners of Cameron, Hidalgo, Starr and Willacy counties, in partnership with the North American Development Bank, the project will create a regional road map to strengthen water reliability, improve drought resistance, and enhance coordination across the four-county region.”

Editor's Note: Go to the Rio Grande Guardian's website to read the full story.

Go to www.riograndeguardian.com to read the latest border news stories and watch the latest news videos. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

you personally there or no representative. I was not in that. I have attended uh two or three with the other county judges. Uh I don't want to speak for Judge Cortez uh but I do know that that um we have had um uh virtual uh meetings uh uh with uh organization that's doing the the survey and the uh the the plan the evaluation the planning and so uh we're looking forward to and we have had them deliver some of that planning. Uh but like um Mr. Cruz had mentioned is that the biggest uh effort has to come with actually implementing what was discovered or what was uh suggested in the plan, right? And I think that's where the Development Council exists. It's one that covers the whole area and so it's an organization that we all feel should be in the forefront.

SPEAKER_00 1:05

What what I was saying and I was being very broad in general is that a couple of years ago even before this this uh organization got involved the the bank uh he he's he started uh us looking into uh the water crisis I guess we can call it right uh it wasn't specific to this organization that's involved doing the planning and so forth but uh what I mentioned was that he he was he had a vision of what was to come and where did the idea come from um it was a coordination between the judges the three county judges and and netbank to try to identify fund uh identify water sources and so uh to be be more detailed as far as you know within city limits or in the counties uh because you know we have the region end plan uh which is a 50 year plan and so that touches in a as far as a long range process or planning process identifies certain projects that might take more than five years to accomplish and so this other plan is going to be an enhancement to the region end plan so we're just gonna try as we go through the process through the year we're gonna try to find a niche where it fits in and try to get the the Texas water development board to to ear either incorporate it or mirror it or or you know copy and paste projects from and to this plan to the region end uh so that you know as you know if you don't have a a project in the region end plan you can't apply for Texas water development board funds. And you personally were there? Yesterday you were yes yes yes the judge um other three judges uh met last month sometime and and so they recommended to to have an associates and net bank uh representatives that that were familiar with the process that have been engaged and us having the region M. volunteer did you did you decide to have a follow-up meeting or is it now down to half an associates to get to work it's half half an associate is leading the charge uh here and then they'll be providing information um yesterday we just our our initial meeting to provide details as far as what the what the process was gonna be what our involvement was going to be uh and it's a year long process and and they might have a schedule I don't know it's up to them uh they'll develop a schedule of meetings that are gonna be take taking place and what we're gonna be doing. So it's a combination of a of a advisory committee and and and work uh it's uh it's uh was it uh workshop uh meetings did did they say how much money net banks putting into it to make it work?

SPEAKER_01 4:00

No that didn't let's I guess anything else? Well what I do want to add is that uh in the meetings that I have attended I'm gonna say maybe three or four uh half of them virtual uh virtual is that we also included uh Judge uh uh Eloivera from Stark County's gonna be part of it. Well we included him in the meetings we've had really is a valley wide exact exactly yes