On April 28, 1999, fellow Board Member Oscar Garcia, the Brownsville Public Utilities Board General Manager & CEO John Bruciak, and I testified before a subcommittee of the U.S. House of Representatives. We requested $3.5 million from the Border Environmental Infrastructure Fund to provide federal assistance for the design and engineering phase of the Weir Project.

Every single resident in Brownsville and in the surrounding communities is affected by the amount of available water in the Rio Grande River. In recent years, the entire Rio Grande Valley has experienced a shortage of water due to a lack of sufficient rains needed to fill our reservoirs.

The Brownsville Public Utilities Board is working hard to ensure there is always an adequate supply of water for Brownsville. The Weir Project will help us do just that.

The Weir Project promotes water conservation at the highest level. It will capture water from the Rio Grande River that has passed all other river water users and store this water within the existing river channel for future use. The weir is comparable to a dam because it impounds water, but a weir contains mechanical devices to allow the discharge of water easily to satisfy downstream flow requirements of agricultural, marine and environmental interests.

Under the current water management system, a significant portion of water flowing into the Lower Rio Grande Basin goes unutilized and flows into the Gulf of Mexico. Right now water is released from the Falcon Reservoir in Zapata, Texas, up to seven days in advance of the anticipated downstream diversions and needs. If released water is not diverted due to unexpected reduced demands, mechanical pump failures or climatic changes, uncaptured or unused water continues to pass by Brownsville and flow directly into the Gulf of Mexico.

Last year alone, about 19 billion gallons of water passed the last gauge on the river, (the proposed site of the Weir Project). That amount of water is equivalent to more than a two year's supply of water for a city with a population of 150,000. But, because there was not a means of capturing that water, it was lost to the Gulf of Mexico. With the Weir, we would be able to capture this water.

Every acre-foot of water conserved by the Weir Project will result in an unreleased acre-foot of water remaining in storage behind Falcon Dam for the benefit of all downstream users, municipalities, industries and agriculture.

We at the Brownsville Public Utilities Board are not only fulfilling the water needs of Brownsville, we are ensuring that our customers never go thirsty. Once completed, the Brownsville Weir and Reservoir Project will supply the local communities with an additional 40,000 acre-feet of water per year.

The Brownsville Public Utilities Board has received support at all levels from federal and state legislators and from the Mexican government for the project. The Texas Water Development Board has incorporated the Weir Project as its top priority in the Current Texas Water Plan. Last year, the U.S. House of Representatives, House Appropriations Committee appropriated $2.5 million for the initial studies and regional coordination for the Weir Project.

We anticipate getting word from the TNRCC by January regarding the permit, but we need your help to ensure the project becomes a reality. I hope you will join me in writing our elected officials in Washington, D.C. and in Austin, Texas, to ask them for continued support of the project:

Honorable Kay Bailey Hutchinson
United States Senate
Washington, D.C 20510
(202) 224-5922

Honorable Phil Graham
United States Senate
Washington, D.C. 20510
(202) 224-2943

Honorable Solomon Ortiz
United States House of Representatives
Washington, D.C. 20515
(202) 225-7742

Senator Eddie Lucio
P.O. Box 12068
Capitol Station, Austin, TX 78711
(512) 463-0127

Representative Rene Oliveria
Room 4N.10, Capitol Building
Austin, TX 78701
(512) 463-0640

I will make every effort to keep you informed of the project, but if you would like additional information about the Weir Project, contact the Brownsville Public Utilities Board at 1425 Robinhood Drive, Brownsville, TX 78521 or call us at (956) 982-6100.