The lower Rio Grande, which supplies drinking water to millions on both sides of the border from Del Rio, Texas, to the Gulf of Mexico, is the fifth-most endangered river in the United States. That’s according to the water conservation nonprofit American Rivers, which in April released its analysis of over 4.5 million miles of river systems across the country, examining aspects of river health such as drought, water management, infrastructure, and federal investment.
In response to the report, nonprofit groups called for billions of dollars in infrastructure investments to address predictions that the Rio Grande could one day no longer deliver enough water for the growing needs of industry, agriculture, and municipalities in the region.
Their call for action was echoed by others, including the former U.S. head of the binational International Boundary and Water Commission (IBWC), Maria-Elena Giner, who told The Border Chronicle in April that funding was one of the most crucial elements for solving the water crisis on the Rio Grande. Giner, who was forced out of the IBWC in April by the Trump administration, said that when she took the position in 2021, the IBWC managed water infrastructure across the entire U.S.-Mexico border with a yearly budget of only $32 million.
The key to saving the Rio Grande lies in the billions of dollars that only the U.S. Congress can provide the IBWC to build the infrastructure necessary to reduce water loss, conserve existing water, and reclaim usable water from other sources. That hasn’t happened yet, but in August, a binational organization announced the establishment of the Water Resiliency Fund, which will support water projects on the border to address the growing emergency.
The $400 million fund was established by the North American Development Bank, also known as NADBank, which is funded by the U.S. and Mexico. NADBank was created in 1994 as part of the North American Free Trade Agreement to finance projects on the border, including energy, waste management, air quality, and water infrastructure. Separately, in August, the IBWC announced $400 million to clean up the Tijuana River—the second-most endangered in the country—which The Border Chronicle reported on in July.
The new fund is a great start, but billions are likely still needed, according to Martin Castro, director of watershed science at the Rio Grande International Study Center (RGISC). Castro emphasized that funding innovation in water management will be key. “One of the things we’d like to see,” he said, “is the prioritization of early-stage feasibility and demonstration projects that are going to pave the way.”
NADBank is funding a collaboration between RGISC and the city of Laredo to find new ways to reclaim and reuse the city’s wastewater, after a 2002 study by the organization found that Laredo would run out of water by 2044 when its existing infrastructure meets its projected growth.
Castro said he would also like to see the principles of “One Water” reflected in the guidelines for funds like the Water Resiliency Fund. “That means treating water not just as a resource, but through a holistic lens—recognizing its benefits across environmental, conservation, public health, social, equity, and community engagement,” said Castro. “We’re interested in seeing what successful projects could emerge and be funded from applying these principles.” He added that “the most successful projects seen all over the country” are those that grew out of partnerships between the private and public sectors, as well as between government and NGOs like RGISC.
During NADBank’s annual summit in August, John Beckham, managing director at NADBank, presented the fund as catering to the kinds of collaborations that Castro says will be important to the future of the Rio Grande and other watersheds. Beckham said the fund would be open to both public and private stakeholders, including farmers, cities, and other nonprofit and government groups.
Beckham also said NADBank hoped the fund could work as a catalyst, offering to match 50 percent of project costs and providing a quarter of the funding as grants. Beckham, describing the fund as a seed, said that “as the fund gets traction, we hope other funders will contribute to it.”
The organization, Beckham said, worked closely with stakeholders in the Rio Grande Valley as the program was developed. “We met extensively with the Lower Rio Grande Valley Irrigation District managers to gain a firsthand understanding of the challenges they’re facing,” he said. “We’ve worked closely with county judges, including Cameron County Judge Eddie Treviño and Hidalgo County Judge Richard Cortez.” NADBank also collaborated with stakeholders in Starr and Willacy counties, as well as water authorities in Tamaulipas and Chihuahua—all regions where water scarcity has been declared an emergency at some jurisdictional level over the past several years.
Raul Quiroga, secretary of water resources for social development from the state of Tamaulipas, attended NADBank’s summit for the fund announcement, along with representatives from Chihuahua. In a NADBank press statement, Quiroga said that Mexican president Claudia Sheinbaum recently pledged an additional $388 million to irrigation districts supplied by the lower Rio Grande and one of its tributaries, the San Juan River, across the states of Nuevo León and Tamaulipas.
Mario Mata, executive director of the Chihuahua State Water and Wastewater Board, said in the same press statement that both sides of the border “share the same desert and the same extraordinary drought conditions we have been enduring,” adding that the fund will help “strengthen planning and coordination of binational actions in support of the human right to water, food production, and environmental betterment” across the region.
Jesse Hereford, head of strategic partnerships and stakeholder engagement at NADBank, told The Border Chronicle that there is still a long path ahead for the conservation of the Rio Grande, which will require many stakeholders and agencies working together. “It’s billions of dollars to focus on this, and this is all hands on deck, and we’re just one of the hands on the deck that can help play a role in building the capital needed,” he said. “Other agencies have larger jurisdictions. For us, our focus here is border communities on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border.”
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