Cash Flow: Federal grant could provide funds for Brownsville dam

While the Brownsville Public Utilities Board is on track to receive more federal funding to further construction of a dam along the Rio Grande near Brownsville, the project's viability in Mexico undergoes review today.

Mayor Pat M. Ahumada Jr., who also serves on the PUB, said Wednesday that a meeting on the dam project would be held today among local, state and federal agency staff members and their counterparts from Mexico.

The purpose is to review the results of studies regarding the dam's possible impact on Matamoros.

Ahumada said he has not reviewed the study, but in summary was told that the results would not be a "deal breaker" and would "validate" the project.

"I've always been optimistic about this project, but we'll hear (today) from the experts," Ahumada said.

Already, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has awarded PUB $17.4 million since fiscal year 1999 for the roughly $40 million project that is aimed at securing an adequate water supply by allowing the capture of 6,000-acre-feet of water per year.

Ahumada said that the EPA recently audited the grant funds and waits to hear if the project would continue or not. He does not expect that the funds would be withdrawn.

Staff of U.S. Rep. Solomon P. Ortiz, D-Corpus Christi, said this week that more funds could be on their way for the 2010 fiscal year, but the amount was not immediately known.

Historically and since 1999, PUB has received yearly allocations ranging from $1.9 million to $2.5 million for the dam project.

Ortiz said that the dam project provides significant opportunities for improvements in water conservation and management in the lower Rio Grande. He said the appropriation bill would next be considered and voted on in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Ortiz's staff said that the congressman recently met with the Eugenio Hernandez Flores, the governor of the Mexican state of Tamaulipas who said that the Brownsville and Matamoros area is in much need of water.

"We would hope that Mexico would act fast on this issue so we may better preserve water from the Rio Grande as we try to maximize our resources," Ortiz said of Mexico's required approval of the dam project.