Several Rio Grande Valley irrigation districts are getting millions of dollars in funding to help conserve water.

The North American Development Bank recently announced plans to fund up to $164 million to improve irrigation systems. The money is going to the Delta Lake Irrigation District, the Donna Irrigation District, and the Cameron County Irrigation District Number Two.

The Delta Lake Irrigation District will get $7.8 million. Eighty percent of that will come as a grant, and the rest has to be paid by the district.

The money will go toward converting irrigation canals to underground pipes, protecting the water supply from evaporation to protect 10 football fields worth of water.

More than two miles of irrigation canal off FM 491 will be converted into pipes by January 2027. Three other canals across the Delta Lake Irrigation District will go through the same process.

Delta Lake Irrigation District General Manager Troy Allen said the funding goes a long way.

"When you spend money improving the irrigation district, you get the biggest bang for the buck for every dollar spent," Allen said.

The district supplies water to Raymondville, Lyford and the North Alamo Water Supply Corporation based near Monte Alto.

Allen said the district is running at a fraction of its former capacity.

"With the sugar industry gone, we're only running our system at about a third of what we used to," Allen said. "We have to fill 55 canals of a canal system and they're using equivalent to what we call a head of water, which is one person irrigating a field."

Raymondville Mayor Gilberto Gonzales said the need for this kind of investment is clear.

"There's a water shortage," Gonzales said.

Gonzales said cities across the Valley are asking people to limit their water use. Raymondville is one of the furthest cities from the Rio Grande and has been working on its own solutions.

"Building wells to be able to make sure that we are drought resilient," Gonzales said.

Raymondville still relies on water from the Rio Grande, delivered through the Delta Lake Irrigation District.