The most recent studies of channel dams on the Lower Rio Grande conducted by IBWC were in 1981 and 1983, under contract to the Texas Department of Water Resources. In the 1983 IBWCreport, it was estimated that "an average of 81,000 acre-feet per year of U.S. water was expected to spill unused to the Gulf of Mexico."

This report concluded that a combination of storage impounded by the existing Retamal structure, which is located near Weslaco, Texas, and is designed and currently used solely for diverting flood flows into Mexico's floodway system, and a new channel dam below Brownsville could be expected to conserve about 75 percent of the excess United States flows, or about 63,000 acre-feet per year.

In 1985, the Public Utilities Board of Brownsville (PUB) and the Rio Grande Valley Municipal Water Authority (RGVMWA) entered into a contract to jointly pursue a channel dam project which could benefit municipal water users within the four counties of the Lower Rio Grande Valley, i.e., Starr, Hidalgo, Cameron, and Willacy.

After detailed hydrologic studies were completed in 1987, an application for a water rights permit authorizing the Retamal Brownsville channel dam project was prepared and submitted on behalf of the PUB and the RGVMWA to the Texas Water Commission (TWC).

Operated as a system in conjunction with available storage capacity in Falcon and Amistad reservoirs, this project was estimated to yield up to 220,000 acre-feet per year of additional dependable supply for the Lower Rio Grande Valley, depending on project components and operating conditions.

In early 1988, the IBWC determined that the Retamal structure no longer could be considered as a component of the channel dam project because of newly discovered foundation problems and objections from Mexico. As an alternative, the IBWC indicated that unallocated conservation storage capacity in the existing Anzalduas Reservoir, which is located southwest of the city of Mission, could be acquired and used in conjunction with the proposed Brownsville Reservoir for development of an additional water supply.

Following additional hydrologic studies and related investigations, a revised application for the Anzalduas-Brownsville channel dam project was filed with the TWC in August 1989. This revised application requested authority for the PUB and the RGVMWA to divert a total of up to 180,000 acre-feet of water per year from the Lower Rio Grande.

After review by the TWC, the revised application was declared administratively complete, and a 13-month time frame was established by the TWC for the applicants to prepare and file an environmental assessment for the Anzalduas-Brownsville project. The environmental assessment was developed pursuant to federal guidelines and the requirements of the TWC and other state natural resources agencies.

The assessment addressed a broad range of issues that had been pre-identified through public input and scoping meetings with various governmental entities and environmental groups.

This document was filed with the TWC in March, 1991 and following review by the TWC and the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD), it was supplemented with additional information, as requested, in July, 1991.

About the same time, the IBWC, following six months of discussions and negotiations with the TWC, initiated and
independent hydrology study of water availability in the Lower Rio Grande. Consequently, the TWC abated further
processing of the Anzalduas-Brownsville application pending completion of the IBWC water availability study.

The final IBWC report from this study was released in May 1992, with no results or conclusions that significantly differed from or conflicted with the hydrologic regime that had been used by the applicants for evaluating the water supply potential of the Anzalduas-Brownsville project.

In June, 1992, the TWC issued public notice for the Anzalduas-Brownsville channel dam project, and because protests were received, remanded the application on Sept. 16, 1992, to a hearings examiner for the required public hearings on the merits of the project. The initial hearing to establish TWC's jurisdiction and to designate parties in the proceeding was conducted on Oct. 15, 1992.In early 1993, the applicants were informed that the executive director of the TWC could not support the concept of acquisition of conservation storage capacity in Anzalduas Reservoir because it was not available under current operating procedures.

Furthermore, the executive director indicated that any changes in TWC rules regarding storage of U.S. water in Amistad and Falcon reservoirs, as likely would have been required for the Anzalduas-Brownsville project, would have to be resolved prior to proceeding with the TWC hearings on the project.

On March 16, 1993, the TWC hearings examiner ordered that the application be held in abatement for four months to allow the Applicants, or any other party, the opportunity to initiate an appropriate rule-making process.

In July 1993, the applicants informed the TWC hearings examiner that changes in the TWC rules to accommodate the Anzalduas-Brownsville project would not be pursued at that time. At the request of the applicants, a six-month continuance in the hearing process was granted by the examiner to allow the Applicants time to reassess the feasibility of the Brownsville Weir and reservoir as a stand-alone project and to determine those portions of the application, if any, upon which the hearing process would proceed.

In addition, representatives of the TWC executive director informed the PUB and the RGVMWA that storage and use of any of Mexico's water flowing in the Rio Grande would not be allowed, including for purposes of satisfying instream uses and bay and estuarine requirements, and that the analysis of the dependable water supply developed by the project should consider only U.S. water.

Following additional hydrologic studies of various project alternatives, evaluations of legal, institutional and environmental issues, and conferences with named parties, the applicants notified the hearings examiner in February 1994, that only the Brownsville Weir and reservoir portion of the overall application would be pursued at that time, without any need for changes in the rules of the Texas Natural resource Conservation Commission (TNRCC), the successor agency to the TWC. Thus, the Anzalduas storage component of was eliminated, leaving the Brownsville Weir and Reservoir (BWR Project) as a stand-alone project for which TNRCC authorization was being sought. The amended application was filed with TNRCC in February 1994, with a request for an annual authorized diversion of up to 40,000 acre-feet of water from the Lower Rio Grande for municipal and industrial uses. A revised Hydrology Report and an updated Environmental Assessment for the BWR Project were completed in the fall of 1994.

During 1994, the PUB also entered into negotiations with the Brownsville Navigation District (BND) regarding the BND's existing water rights permit. This permit was granted to the BND by the State of Texas in 1956, and it authorized the BND to divert excess flows from the Lower Rio Grande at Brownsville so long as at least 25 cubic feet per second of flow was passing the streamflow gage located downstream of Brownsville.

Under this permit, the BND could divert up to 37,000 acre-feet of water per year for industrial use and up to 2,500 acre-feet per year for municipal use. The PUB acquired a permit from the BND and amended the permit through the TNRCC to allow the diversion of up to 40,000 acre-feet of water per year for municipal and industrial uses.

Hence, with that permit in hand, the PUB no longer needed the authority to make diversions from the Brownsville Reservoir, and in February of 1998, the PUB again amended its application for the BWR Project to remove the diversion request. With this amendment, the application seeks only to authorize the construction of the Brownsville Weir and the impoundment of 6,000 acre-feet of water in the Brownsville Reservoir.

Another development regarding the BWR Project occurred in 1997. The 75th State Legislature passed a resolution
dissolving the RGVMWA. Consequently, the application was amended to remove the RBVMWA as a co-applicant, and the PUB was established as the sole applicant for the BWR Project.Between 1995 and 1999, the PUB also investigated other water supply alternatives and participated in the regional Integrated Water Resources Planning (IWRP) Study for the Lower Rio Grande Valley.

Alternatives considered included groundwater development, aquifer-storage recovery, desalination of saline groundwater, wastewater reuse, off-channel storage, and resaca storage enhancement.

Results from these investigations indicated that the BWR Project still was one of the more viable water supply options available to the PUB and should continue to be pursued as an integral part of PUB's overall strategy for meeting future water demands.

In 1997, the BWR Project was included as a recommended project in the "Water for Texas" State Water Plan prepared by the Texas Water Development Board, and it was identified as a water supply option for the Brownsville area in the 1999 interim plan developed by the IWRP Study.

Currently, the Rio Grande Regional Water Planning Group, which was created pursuant to the requirements of Senate Bill 1 for the purpose of developing a comprehensive water supply plan for the eight-county Middle and lower Rio Grande region, is finalizing its technical and planning studies. Recently the BWR Project was removed from the list of recommended alternatives for meeting future water demands in the Brownsville area. The PUB is currently appealing that decision.

Since the fall of 1998, the PUB has been actively pursuing development of the BWR Project. In October, 1998, the PUB received a local-match federal grant from the Environmental Protection Agency for engineering and environmental support and facilities design related to the BWR Project under the State and tribal Assistance Grants Program for Water and Wastewater Infrastructure Projects. Effective October 1999, the PUB was awarded another federal grant to assist with the final engineering and sign of the BWR Project. Funding from these grants has been used by the PUB to continue its investigations regarding the BWR Project. An updated hydrology report and an updated environmental assessment for the BWR Project were produced in mid-1999, together with a draft mitigation plan for the project.

Potential physical conflicts that may be encountered with regard to the BWR Project on both sides of the Rio Grande also have been preliminarily identified and investigated.

The PUB also has been engaged in meetings and discussions with opposing parties. Specific concerns have been
identified and examined, and efforts have been made to reach settlements with the opposing parties or encourage
withdrawal as parties to the TNRCC hearing process.

Additional environmental safeguards have been incorporated into the proposed BWR Project based on discussions with TNRCC staff and representatives from the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD), and the PUB has agreed to participate with the TPWD in a six-year post-project river and estuarine sampling program to document any noticeable effects that the BWR Project might have on the area's environmental resources.

In January 2000, the TNRCC issued its draft permit for the BWR Project authorizing the impoundment of up to 6,000 acre-feet of water in the Brownsville Reservoir on the Rio Grande.

Following further discussions between the PUB and the opposing parties in the TNRCC hearing process, it is significant to note that all of the original 20 opposing parties now have settled or withdrawn from the proceeding. It is anticipated that the final TNRCC water rights permit for the BWR Project will be issued within the next month or so. On the federal permitting front, the PUB has submitted and application to the Corps of Engineers for a Section 404 permit and a Section 10 permit for the BWR Project.

Additional information is being provided in response to request from the Corps, and the public notice for the BWR Project is expected to be issued by the Corps within four or five weeks. Through this permitting process, the PUB also will be addressing the Section 401 certification requirements, Federally threatened or endangered species issues, and the requirements of the State's Coastal Coordination Council and the Coastal Zone Management Program. Finally, over the last few years, the PUB has had periodic meetings and discussions with representatives from the International Boundary and Water Commission (IBWC) and Mexico regarding the BWR Project. These activities have focused more on informing these entities of the BWR Project, rather than seeking their approval or intentions regardingparticipation in the project.

Once the final TNRCC water rights permit for the BWR Project has been issued more formal discussions with IBWC and Mexico will be held to begin the approval process at the international level.