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Key permit approved for Brownsville weir
(Note: Approval from Mexico and the
International Boundary and Water Commission must be secured before
construction [of the 42-mile-long reservoir and wildlife
Corridor] begins.
December 13, 2003
By Brittney Booth
The Brownsville Herald
Brownsville, Texas
Brownsville, Texas
The Brownsville Weir and Reservoir Project had a breakthrough
Thursday, winning government approval to begin construction on the
decades-old plan.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on
Monday plans to issue a permit that allows the Brownsville Public
Utilities Board to start building the 42-mile-long reservoir in the
Rio Grande.
In 2000, PUB obtained a permit from the Texas Commission on
Environmental Quality to impound 6,000 acre-feet of water per year
behind the weir. Supporters say it will provide a major municipal
water source for the area.
PUB
officials will travel to Galveston next week to collect Army Permit
21977.
The permit means PUB has the U.S.
agencies approval to build the nearly $40 million project
designed to capture river water that would otherwise flow into the
Gulf of Mexico.
Approval from Mexico and the
International Boundary and Water Commission must be secured before
construction begins.
PUB's Assistant General Manager Eduardo Campirano called Thursday's
development a significant milestone."
"We look forward to getting the permit. This a good project for
our community" he said.
The two-year quest to obtain the
permit required PUB to restore 130 acres of wetlands in Rincon Banco
and establish a 280-acre wildlife corridor protecting ocelots and
jaguarundi to compensate for the project's environmental impacts,
including flooding of native habitat for the wild cats.
Some environmental groups have
opposed the project, claiming it will dry out environmentally
sensitive areas below the project's site.
"It's a process they have to go through in order to build a
structure in the waters of the United States," Marilyn Uhrich
said, a spokeswoman for the Corps' Galveston District. "This is
an important step from our point of vie."
In addition to the permit, the weir is in line to receive $2 million
included in the Omnibus Appropriation bill passed by the U.S. House of
Representatives on December 8, 2003. The Senate will consider the bill
next month. To date, the Brownsville PUB has received $10.5 million in
federal appropriations for the project.
U.S. Rep. Solomon Ortiz, D-Corpus Christi, said the project would help
ensure the region has an adequate water supply.
"This has been a very long process" Ortiz said. "We
have to be realistic that the community that does not have water will
not be able to provide any jobs. People used to say it would never be
done. We were able to convince a lot of people that this project was
needed."
The weir and reservoir will have a daily storage capacity of up to
6,000 acre-feet of water, or 2 billion gallons, which will generate
40,000 acre-feet of water for municipal use. The facility will be
located close to four river-miles downstream of the Gateway
International Bridge.
http://www.brownsvilleherald.com/ts_comments.php?id=56259_0_10_0_C
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