Watershed Protection Plan - Lower Rio Grande Valley Development ...

TECHNICAL AND FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE REQUIRED
watershed (i.e., Southmost SWCD, Willacy SWCD and
Hidalgo SWCD).
In FY05, CWA Section 319 Grant provided $172,373
for education, $780,000 for cost share assistance and
$190,478 for technical assistance. In 2005, $106,000
in cost-share from EQIP was made available to each
SWCD in the state for addressing local concerns.
In addition, $540,508 in cost share through EQIP is
available to the Lower Rio Grande Valley Irrigation Area
for addressing the State Resource Concern of Water
Quantity – Irrigation.
The TWDB Board authorized funding ($3.7 million
over 10 years) for Agricultural Demonstration Initiative
grants in September of 2004 for the Harlingen Irrigation
District-Cameron County No. 1 for a project expected
to last until 2014. The project includes implementation
of demonstration projects designed to maximize
the effi ciency of fl ood irrigation by demonstrating
the effectiveness of all major irrigation technologies
and disseminating benefi cial fi ndings from the fi eld
demonstration sites to irrigation districts and farmers.
Producer Advisory Councils or Committees will be
formed and will have a big role in the activities of the
initiative. The focus of the initiative will be on water
effi ciency and the associated profi tability for producers.
The multi-year funding will allow continuation of funding
after installation of monitoring equipment and will allow
for long-term data collection, analysis, technology
transfer and education over a meaningful period of
time. This agricultural demonstration initiative is not
isolated to the Arroyo Colorado, but the majority of the
program is being implemented with the watershed.
The program targets water conservation, but is also
designed to mitigate pollution runoff.
Near-term Financial Assistance Needs for
Agricultural Issues (2006-2010)
In addition to the existing technical assistance
provided by the TSSWCB and NRCS, as well as
the existing education programs provided by TCE,
the following resources will be necessary in order to
meet the near-term (fi ve-year) goals for addressing
agricultural issues in the Arroyo Colorado watershed:
• Technical Assistance = $475,000 (based on costs
for two full-time employees)
• Cost Share Assistance = $2.7 million (based on
270 WQMPs @ 185 ac/WQMP)
• Monitoring/Assessment = $750,000 (based on
~20% of total)
• Total Needed = $3.93 million
Long-term Financial Assistance Needs for
Agricultural Issues (2011-2015)
Assuming an annual infl ation rate of 3%, the
following resources will be necessary to meet the
long-term goal (year 5-15) in addition to the existing
technical assistance already provided by the TSSWCB,
NRCS, and TCE:
• Technical Assistance = $500,000
• Cost Share Assistance = $3 million
• Monitoring/Assessment = $800,000
• Total Needed = $4.3 million
Thereafter, approximately $100,000 per year will be
needed to continue providing technical assistance and
cost share to agricultural producers (funding for one
SWCD and one TCE employee).
Agricultural land leveling
Land Use and Urban Development
Because much of the ACW Partnership’s efforts
to minimize the impact of land use and urban
development practices on habitat and water quality in
the Arroyo Colorado are related mainly to E&O, the
ACW Partnership incorporated the assessment of
the fi nancial assistance needed to implement these
efforts into the E&O Component of the ACW Protection
Plan. A complete assessment of the fi nancial needs
associated with the E&O Component of the ACW
Protection Plan can be found in the E&O portion of the
“Financial Assistance Needs” section of this document.
January 2007 135 Arroyo Colorado Watershed Protection Plan