Lower Rio Grande Valley Water Resources Conservation and Improvement Act of 2005
Key claim: This 2005 Senate bill would have let the Bureau of Reclamation add more water-conservation projects in several South Texas counties, such as burying or lining irrigation canals and upgrading pumps and meters to stretch the local water supply.
Abstract
(S519 · 109th Congress) Lower Rio Grande Valley Water Resources Conservation and Improvement Act of 2005 - Amends the Lower Rio Grande Valley Water Resources Conservation and Improvement Act of 2000 to authorize specified additional projects, including projects for water conservation and improvement in Cameron, Hidalgo, Willacy, Hudspeth, and El Paso counties, Texas. Permits each project that the Secretary of the Interior, acting through the Commissioner of the Bureau of Reclamation, conducts or participates in to include: (1) the replacement of irrigation canals and lateral canals with buried pipelines; (2) the impervious lining of irrigation canals and lateral canals; (3) the installation of water level, flow measurement, pump control, and telemetry systems; (4) the renovation and replacement of pumping plants; and (5) other activities that will result in water conservation or an improved water supply. Latest action (2005-04-19): Committee on Energy and Natural Resources Subcommittee on Water and Power. Hearings held. With printed Hearing: S.Hrg. 109-96.
Why this matters
The Lower Rio Grande Valley is a chronically water-stressed border region where irrigation losses from open earthen canals are a major driver of shortage. Federal authorization to expand Reclamation-funded lining, piping, and metering projects would shift local water availability without new supply, making the specific counties eligible and the funding cap the practical levers. The 2005 bill did not become law, but it is part of a recurring pattern of incremental expansions to the underlying LRGV conservation program.