MCALLEN, Texas - The Rio Grande Valley has more than 600 miles of irrigation canals that need lining and the cost per miles is approximately $1 million, says retired irrigation district manager Sonny Hinojosa.
Hinojosa, worked for Hidalgo County Irrigation District No, 2 for 30 years. Before that he worked for eight years with the Rio Grande Watermaster’s Office.
He spoke recently on a panel discussion titled “The State of Water in the Rio Grande Valley – Challenges and Solutions” that was hosted McAllen Citizens League and held at Rio Bank in McAllen.
In the Q&A portion of the program, Mark R. Murray, a political science assistant professor at South Texas College, asked Hinojosa how many miles of irrigation canals in the Valley are there. He also asked the cost of lining these canals.
Hinojosa replied: “It is very costly to accomplish these projects. And yes, the State of Texas has allocated a little over a billion dollars. And most recently, state senator Juan Hinojosa has requested from the Texas Water Development Board that $100 million out of that $1 billion be dedicated to projects in the Lower Rio Grande Valley, mainly for canal lining and canal conversion into pipeline.”
Hinojosa said there are other funding sources available for use in lining the canals.
“We have that $100 million to start off with. And then we also have the North American Development Bank. They came to our aid 20 years ago, and they've come in again, offering both countries (the United States and Mexico) some funding for (water) infrastructure improvements. Right now, I believe it's $400 million, to be shared with both countries, $100 million of it in grants and the remaining balance in loans.”
Hinojosa said the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation also has federal funding to help irrigation districts with their infrastructure projects.
“For irrigation districts, we’re not growing. If anything, we're getting smaller because of development. A lot of the development occurs within the boundaries of an irrigation district, as opposed to the municipal side,” Hinojosa said.
“Municipalities have funding to expand their systems, whereas irrigation districts, we're trying to renovate and maintain the systems that we currently have that were put in existence in the early 1900s. So our systems are over 100 years old.”
Hinojosa said funding for irrigation districts to improve their infrastructure comes in cycles. When there is a drought and water scarcity is in the news, funding is made available, he said. When water is more plentiful and the issue is not in the news, funding tends to dry up, he explained.
“Everything occurs in cycles, it appears. Twenty years ago we received some federal funding and NADBank funding. We were able to accomplish a lot of projects, conservation, water saving projects, and here, once again, this second round is commencing with the aid of NADBank and, hopefully, with the Texas Water Development Board.”
In answer to Murray’s question about the cost of lining a canal, Hinojosa said: “Of course, it varies on the width of the canal, but a rule of thumb currently today is like a million dollars a mile.”
Hinojosa said most irrigation districts have buried many of their canals.
“If it can fit in a pipe, it’s already been buried. A lot of our canals were lined in the late 30s, again, in the 80s, in the early 2000s. But all concrete cracks. It just does. It has a lifespan. So the new concept now, and I say new, 25 years, is lining it with a impermeable liner. You come back and protect it with concrete, and it should last at least another 50 years. So those are the kind of projects that we're contemplating right now.”
Hinojosa said irrigation districts would like to line their canals or transport water via pipeline because it will save water from evaporation and seepage. “Our problem is funding. We're always conserving. The money runs out, and when we get into a water supply shortage situation, as we're in right now, we get the we get the attention that we need in Washington and the State of Texas, and money gets prioritized for our projects.”
In response to Murray’s question about how many miles of canals there are in the Valley, Hinojosa said:
“Twenty-five years ago, when we were short on water, Texas A&M sent a team down here. They inventoried, surveyed all the districts. And back then we had, I think, 28 districts. We had 641.98 miles of canal. And we had potential savings of 98,000 to 217,000 acre feet (if the canals were lined). We have brought our conveyance systems to 90% efficiency. But, like I said, we're not growing. We're not expanding. So we probably have less than 640 miles of canal, but a lot of our systems are huge.”
Murray said by his math, if the State of Texas is providing $100 million to line the canals, and there are 640 miles of canal, only one in six canals will be lined at $1 million per mile.
Hinojosa replied: But that is just the development board. We still have NADBank. What we face, like I said, is, everything is cyclical is. If we get started on these projects, because they just can't happen or occur overnight, and then you get a storm that replenishes our supply, the focus gets taken off of the Rio Grande Valley, and then the funding stops. Like I said, everything is cyclical.”
