City developing water storage plan to address 'vulnerable position'

May 6-Due to concerns over limited water reserves and insufficient water storage capacity, City Council approved a motion to develop an emergency action plan.

Laredo Mayor Dr. Victor Trevino said it is a reality that cannot be ignored, as the city has only 10 hours of emergency water storage.

"That's not to me a margin of safety; it's a warning signal that can catapult us in some serious situation like Corpus Christi is facing, places our community in a vulnerable position and demands immediate and decisive action today," he said.

The agenda item was raised less than two weeks after Trevino partnered with U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar and state Rep. Richard Raymond for a discussion at the Laredo Water Museum. They outlined infrastructure efforts and said cooperation across all levels of government remains critical.

"We made it clear that water security is one of the most pressing challenges in our region, and today that challenge has not changed," Trevino said. "And it's here and will define our generation and future generations.

"But 10 hours of storage is not enough or even a buffer. It is the breaking point. This is a defining moment for our city, and it will define us by how we go, how we respond and how we protect our future investment in the city."

Trevino said the problem is amplified by a lack of water storage capacity, which he said is forcing the city to purge more than 30 million gallons of water each month. He also said Laredo must accelerate its use of effluent water and treated wastewater as part of a responsible water strategy.

"That is water we cannot afford to lose and water that should be captured, stored or even used to sustain our community," he said.

Emergency Management Coordinator and Fire Chief Guillermo Heard said the water conservation and drought contingency ordinance is at Level 2. The ordinance includes conservation goals, drought stages, water waste penalties, leak detection and public education.

Utilities Director Dr. Tareq Al-Zabet said they need plans for both short-term and long-term issues. A short-term issue like serious flooding could raise the turbidity of the river to a level where it is too murky for the treatment plant, which Al-Zabet said would cause filters to shut down, likely for a couple of days. He said they will work with Heard to develop measures that can be taken in this situation and explore relationships with other municipalities.

Long-term, Al-Zabet said they are seeking funding to build a pumping plant at Lake Casa Blanca to divert wastewater and move it when needed. When it is not needed, it will flow back to the river. He estimated the project would cost between $100 million and $120 million and said they are seeking $25 million from the Texas Water Development Board, NADBank and every agency they can reach out to.

"This Casa Blanca issue as a lifeline to the City of Laredo should be prioritized," Al-Zabet said. "What we need to know now is just the funding piece of it. As soon as we get that, we can immediately move forward with the design, engineering design and planning."

District III Councilmember Melissa Cigarroa emphasized how the lake storage plan is a long-term project that will require significant funding and time. She said it requires the installation of purple pipe to get the effluent water to Lake Casa Blanca, dredging the lake to prepare it to hold 23 million gallons of water each day and pipes to take water to the treatment plant in case it needs to be accessed.

She commended the planning and stressed that day-to-day operations must also remain a priority.

"We have to strategically move forward to improve water security as quickly as we can so that we can handle the operations," she said. "You also are at the highest quality of water that we have, and no boil water notices for the last 16 months, maintaining that level of operations while we're also improving the infrastructure and making plans for the storage."

Al-Zabet highlighted other efforts, including repairing lines to reduce losses and looking at supply from secondary water sources. He said while dealing with demand management and reducing losses, they are exploring buying more rights along with additional political support and financing.

"It's baby steps. It's not as we wish to be, but this is how life is, and we see it as an affordability issue," Al-Zabet said. "Every decision we make impacts ratepayers, so we're trying to be very conscious of that as well. But I can assure you this is a priority for the department. We don't deal with it as a business; we deal with it as the jewel of the crown for the City of Laredo."

District VII Councilmember Vanessa Perez said expanding storage is essential because the city has water rights beyond its needs due to always purchasing water rights in anticipation of growth. She also said the city should aim to minimize wasting water and highlighted examples such as broken irrigation systems and watering the field at Uni-Trade Stadium at 2 p.m. while advising citizens not to water during that time of day.

"We need to do a whole overhaul not just on storage but on not wasting water," Perez said. "We've continuously talked about grabbing the water we pump out of the hydrants to flush, and we still have not come up with any kind of system. Any water that we pump back into the creeks or the river does not benefit our community. It goes down south. Reclaiming it, reprocessing it and recycling it would be beneficial."

Heard said they understood the directive and would get to work on the action plan. The motion passed unanimously.

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This story was originally published May 6, 2026 at 10:55 PM.