(GP/GT) for Additional Water Supply in the Lower Rio Grande

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Section II; An Assessment of the Brackish Groundwater Reource
Our first step in making an adequate assessment of the Brackish Groundwater resource in Cameron and
Hidalgo counties was to obtain known available information regarding the subject matter. In order to do
so, we have done the following:
1. Researched available reports in the library of the Texas Natural Resource Conservation
Commission (formerly Texas Water Commission).
2. Met with and obtained available information from several members of the Texas Water
Development Boards' staff, namely, John Ashworth, Mark Berryman and Richard Preston.
3. Met with and gained useful directions from Ridge Kaiser, P.E., a Principal in the firm ofR.W.
Harden and Associates, Inc., Consulting Hydrologists and Geologists.
4. Contacted representatives of the engineering departments of the cities of Brownsville, Harlingen,
McAllen and Mission to obtain any available information they might have.
Through our research we have determined that the most useful and currently available public sources of
information regarding the subject matter are four publications prepared by the Texas Water Development
Board and other pertinent agencies of the State of Texas. A listing of these publications is as follows:
Bulletin 6014 - Volumes I and n entitled Groundwater Resources of the Lower Rio Grande Valley Area.
~ prepared by the Texas Board of Water Engineers in cooperation with the Geological Survey,
United States Department of the Interior and the Lower Rio Grande Valley Chamber of Commerce, Inc.
(February 1961).
Report 238 entitled Ground-Water Availability in Texas Estimates and Projections through 2030 prepared
by the Texas Department of Water Resources (September 1979, Third printing in July 1987).
Report 279 entitled Occurrence and Ouality of Ground Water in the Vicinity of Brownsville. Texas,
prepared by the Texas Department of Water Resources (September, 1983).
Report 316 entitled Evaluation of Ground-Water Resources in the Lower Rio Grande Valley. Texas,
prepared by the Texas Water Development Board (January 1990).
We have reviewed the content of each of these publications and have extracted therefrom a summary of
the information deemed most relevant for this assessment. This summary is presented in a matrix-format
in the enclosed tabulation and notes entitled: Locations and Descriptions of Productive Zones of Brackish
Groundwater in Cameron and Hidalgo Counties. Texas.
As regards additional information, we include the following:
1. The water supply section of the Planning Division of the Texas Water Development Board is
reportedly currently preparing a report entitled Gulf Coast Regional Aquifer ASSessment. This
report should be completed by the end of calendar year 1993, and it should contain a substantial
amount of additional information as regards projections of recoverable volumes of Brackish
Groundwater in the study area.
2. Pursuant to a previous undertaking, we were involved with the development of a report entitled
Availability of Brackish Groundwater near Brownsville. Texas prepared by R.W. Harden and
Associates, Inc. For the purpose of providing some relatively more detailed information
regarding well field development, etc., we are including herein, as Appendix A, a synopsis of
certain information in that Report.