An interview with Region M Planning Group Chairman Jim Darling

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 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 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_00 0:00

Are you there?

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Yeah, well you learn about these things and you get they asked me why I was here. I said I'm an interested citizen. So how does it work? How does it interact with your region and work?

SPEAKER_00 0:11

Well, actually, you know, they hired not only they have uh Frieza, they have um Friezen Nickels Associates, yeah, and Frieza Nichols, who is our so they're working together. And I think um, you know, the state plan is so structured for what they have to do. So this was kind of um kind of not thinking out of the box, but yeah, okay. Um we didn't do a regional plan. Uh I mean as a region we do a plan, but not a regional plan itself. So everybody's in a smaller region. Everybody has individual projects. So this is more like okay, we're gonna really concentrate on what we can do as a region, I think. Yeah. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 0:49

Where did it come from? Whose idea was it to set this up?

SPEAKER_00 0:53

I think probably NADBank may have started it. NADBank's funding it, and so um, yeah, I think probably there. You know, and obviously Nadbanks maybe be the financing entity for these projects too. So, I mean, there there is a motive behind this or wanting to be a good citizen, but they are a good citizen, I must say. Is there a time frame? How long are you gonna no? I mean, you're talking long yesterday as a first meeting and really getting involved in talking about um how how it's gonna function and those kind of things. So yeah, pretty interesting. Um I'm saying, you know, if you take a look at water issues now, um most cities that participate. We there's water in the reservoir system. You know, we we don't want to ignore that's our source of water. And so groundwater is certainly an augmentation of that, but um, you know, I I think I hate to see us go away from the river as a system and the pressure we still need to put on the federal government and then thus for Mexico. But uh, you know, that's very important. I hope that doesn't get forgotten where everybody's talking about, you know. I I I've been to meetings where water's been twelve dollars a thousand, you know, the average is two. So you you know these projects uh gotta be looked at before you get too far in spending a lot of money on a project that's not gonna be feasible because we can't afford it. The average customer couldn't afford it. So we'll see what happens there. And um, you know, I would think uh as a public utility you have to serve all your customers, but with these um data centers, I think you you do have some leeway there. You know, they just can't say I want them gillian gallons of water and do that just like we can make people not irrigate on certain days and all those kind of things. So it's I think we need to look at that as a region too. Okay, how let's make sure we're all kind of on the same board, maybe not the same regulations, but yeah, don't uh uh be careful how we do that, and hopefully the region will come up with some of those programs to say, okay, if you got a regional water throw, it's gonna be two-thirds of your water supply, you better, you know, help them out too in a regulation.

SPEAKER_01 3:03

They seem to be saying also that there was um they're gonna hire a consultant. Was that done yesterday?

SPEAKER_00 3:08

No, I don't think so. No. We just got the basic understanding of the group that was there, and so you know the county judges do that, and I appreciate they do that, but the county judges, the counties don't really get involved except for the Dow County and their Delta project. They never really got involved in water. I remember every legislative session we get money to do a colonial study because nobody, right, cities didn't want colonials and wouldn't uh annex them. And so we do a study and then put it on the shelf. I I I used to represent the county in some of those, so I had you know a lot of books with studies, but no action. No action, I think. You know, and and yet because of state law and etc. etc. We still are developing county uh subdivisions in colonials as we speak right now.

SPEAKER_01 3:50

So Freeze and Nichols represents Region M, and they were invited.

SPEAKER_00 3:55

Yeah, they were invited. And so yeah.

SPEAKER_01 3:58

And that may be how you learned about it. I've got to be there.

SPEAKER_00 4:01

Well, I yeah, I get I don't know, I I get a lot of information, so somebody said I need to go there, so I went there. I was well received, I mean they got to talk and everything. So that's good. I you know, I'm not just a region M guy, too. I mean, I was I was involved with water since the 80s. And um, so yeah.

SPEAKER_01 4:17

So productive meeting, a productive first start.

SPEAKER_00 4:20

Sure, sure, yeah. You know, anything we do on that, a regional standpoint. Like I said, um uh hopefully we'll work together on that. Um I I so I use the MPO merger in the um university. University mergers, and I think both of those work because there was a carrot. You know, we never get people in the valley, it's tough to get a regional program together. But there were what's what did that as a necessity, but really the carrot, you know.

SPEAKER_01 4:46

The carrot being in the puff function.

SPEAKER_00 4:48

Yeah, look, yeah, look at the puff fund, look at it, unbelievable. And then the MPO merger, look at what we got in Kway money. So hopefully in water we'll find that.

SPEAKER_01 4:56

Any ideas what we can what the carrot can be for water?

SPEAKER_00 4:59

Yeah, water development scores got a lot of money, you know, a major project. You know, if you want to participate, you've got to put some money in, but you'll get the water development board money on the other side of it. So, you know, a lot of the cities have interconnects. McAllen, I think Interconnect Mission, Edinburgh, McAllen, and Farr have emergency interconnects that could be, you know, go out from there where the projects in McAllen, but everybody already have the system for delivery developed that you know. So I keep talking about these guys talking about bringing water in from the Gulf, and that's a heck of a delivery system that they have to meet through the city. Huh?

SPEAKER_01 5:33

They had a meet a press conference this morning with the desalination guys.

SPEAKER_00 5:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:38

You know, I you know they did a uh they did confirm that it's much higher than the the average price for bringing the water to the city.

SPEAKER_00 5:46

I always ask, and they said, yeah, like twelve dollars a thousand. McAllen charges two. Even um North Elm Water Spy Corporation, which is probably the biggest groundwater system, maybe in the country. I mean, from a number of wells. You know, eight wells, and I mean, you know, and uh I talked to um them and Stephen, he's they're charged a little over two cents. They um their capital costs are built into their normal rate, and so the water rate is that so you know probably their capital rate is the beer water is maybe a little higher than you know somebody else, you know, a standard rate of ten dollars a month regardless, and then your water uses. I haven't done that, but I mean that's a great example. I tell people go go go to North Halmo and see what's happening. You're not only um and the water development on the treatment side, each each one is a little better, I understand, because they use experience and all that, and technology is a little different. So that's pretty pretty exciting.

SPEAKER_01 6:46

So yesterday's meeting, did they say when they were gonna meet again?

SPEAKER_00 6:51

When the next meeting, they just kind of got the organizational. I don't know if I'm a member of there. I'll show up. You're a good member of anyone. I thought I was an interested citizen. But anyways, uh yeah, I've been pretty busy lately in front of university, so but you know, um uh but I don't think I could add anything on uncle.