South Texas Developers Make a Sales Pitch to Sell Groundwater. Will Laredo Buy It?
Laredo has long sought a secondary water supply to supplement the Rio Grande. A development in Webb County could provide a solution—but one with a hefty price tag.
Laredo has relied on the Rio Grande, which flows as a natural border between the U.S. and Mexico, for water since its founding in 1755. What centuries ago was a small Spanish outpost is now an American city of 250,000 people. Nuevo Laredo across the river in Mexico has grown to 480,000. The Covid pandemic and subsequent relocation of manufacturing from Asia to Mexico attracted more industry to Nuevo Laredo, and trade across the border has increased steadily. More than 3 million trucks, or an average of more than 8,000 trucks a day, entered Laredo from Mexico in 2024, according to the U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics.
