McAllen Public Utility reported on reservoir levels, drought risks and local projects Wednesday as the McAllen City Commission met in workshop. Mark Baker, general manager of McAllen Public Utility, said combined Amistad and Falcon reservoir levels measure about 24.3% of conservation and that the city remains under stage 2 water restrictions, which the utility applies when the combined percentage is below 25%.

The update matters because the city draws most of its supply from the Rio Grande watershed and because utility staff said growth in Hidalgo County is increasing long-term demand. "We are still in what we call stage 2 water restrictions," Baker said, and he described the reservoirs and recent deliveries from Mexico that have modestly raised levels in recent months.

Baker showed historical graphs of Amistad and Falcon lake levels and said the Mexican government had announced plans to release roughly 400,000 acre-feet of water in October. He also said the binational deliveries remain short of treaty obligations and that the system is roughly a million acre-feet in arrears; if Mexico delivered the 400,000 acre-feet, he estimated the combined level would likely rise to the mid-to-upper 30 percent range but remain well below conservation capacity.

The utility described current and planned supply diversifications: test wells at the North Water Treatment Plant, engineering to size a reverse-osmosis (RO) facility to reduce dependence on surface water, and pursuit of an additional groundwater well through a Bureau of Reclamation grant. Baker said the city currently pumps about 1 million gallons per day from a South Plant well, while average daily city demand is roughly 24 million gallons and summer peak roughly 31 million gallons.

Baker said weekly or biweekly reservoir reports and Texas Water Development Board projections on population growth informed the presentation. He noted other Texas cities are pursuing large new-source projects — the presentation cited Brownsville planning a groundwater project estimated at about $200 million and Corpus Christi pursuing desalination with multi‑hundred‑million to billion‑dollar price tags — and that recent state/federal funding rounds could provide money for McAllen’s projects.

Commissioners asked technical and policy questions during the workshop. Commissioner Aguirre asked about additional wells and Baker said the utility had received notice it may be eligible for a grant for a second groundwater well at a site with better water quality. Commissioners asked how reservoir spikes follow storms and how much agricultural allocations and state water‑master actions affect municipal supply. Baker explained that irrigation accounts for the majority of Rio Grande diversions in the valley, that the Texas water master uses allocations to ration irrigation during shortages, and that municipalities typically use far less of the river flow than agriculture.

The session was an informational workshop; no votes or ordinance actions were taken. The presentation included a reminder that Texas Open Meetings Act procedures allow workshops for staff briefings and that formal actions are not taken in workshops. Baker and staff said next steps include continued testing of wells, engineering for RO design, and aggressive pursuit of available grants.