Texas has been facing a water crisis for years, and the agriculture commissioner warned that parts of the state are already running out of water.
Texas has long struggled with water supplies due to a growing population, deteriorating infrastructure and repeated droughts, especially over the past two summers.
“Texas is losing about one farm every week, but it would take 700 years for the land to run out. The limiting factor is water,” state Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller said Sunday.
“Water is scarce, especially in the Rio Grande Valley,” he told WFAA’s Inside Texas Politics.
The Rio Grande Valley is on the front line of the crisis and at the center of an international dispute with Mexico, which owes water resources to the Rio Grande under the 1944 U.S.-Mexico Water Treaty (formally known as the Treaty Concerning the Use of the Waters of the Colorado, Tijuana, and Rio Grande Rivers).
Mexico is supposed to supply 350,000 acre-feet of water per year for five years, but as of Aug. 10, it has paid the U.S. only 400,100 acre-feet of water for the current five-year period ending in October 2025, according to data from the International Boundary and Water Commission.
“Tomato production in the Valley is pretty much over. We normally grow the vegetable five times in this area,” Miller said, adding, “We have enough water for one grow. So production is down 80 percent and it’s all about water.”
He went on to talk about Pecos, a town in West Texas known for its melon production.
But “you can’t find water there anymore because the farmers are gone,” Miller said. “There’s no water. The farmers had to leave.”
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Miller believes Texas should focus on making the most of its existing water resources to improve irrigation, increase storage capacity and add new reservoirs.
Last month, about 250 lawmakers gathered in the border town of Pharr for a symposium on water in South Texas.
The bipartisan event was hosted by Texas Democratic Congressman Terry Canales. Democratic State Senator Juan “Chuy” Hinojosa, the Texas Water Foundation and Republican Congresswoman Monica de la Cruz, who represents South Texas, also participated in the discussion.
Sarah Schlessinger, CEO of the Texas Water Foundation, said Texas’ water supply cannot keep up with population growth, which the state expects to explode at 70 percent over the next 50 years.
Newsweek has reached out to the Texas Water Foundation for comment.
