AP News McALLEN, Texas (AP) â On a scorching afternoon in South Texas, Sonia Lambert looked out at an open-air canal that carries mud-green water from the Rio Grande to nearby towns and farmland, losing much of it to evaporation and seepage along the way.
âThat will be someone elseâs problem,â Lambert said, referring to her upcoming retirement as head of an irrigation district near the U.S.-Mexico border.
In the Rio Grande Valley, a canal system designed more than a century ago for agriculture still delivers water to the regionâs lush farmland and fast-growing towns and cities. Today, the canals lose as much as 40% of the water they carry, waste that experts say could contribute to steep water shortages in coming decades as the population grows and climate change intensifies droughts.
Daily News PDF Archives – Jellyfish.NewsÂ