By ARABELLA SERRATA
editor@sbnewspaper.com
Area residents and visitors who frequent the resaca which surrounds the heart of the city have noticed the concerning low levels of water in recent weeks, causing many to theorize about the cause.
From global warming to the draught to water misuse, residents have taken to social media and contacted local officials to express their concerns, share their theories, and cast blame. And while the City has taken much of the berating, officials quickly note that the resaca is the local Irrigation District’s jurisdiction and the Irrigation District stands as a separate entity with a board of directors and manager.
Indeed, officials at Irrigation #2, which is in charge of the resaca, have an explanation as to why the resaca appears to be dyer than usual, explaining that the Irrigation District opted to drain the resaca ahead of the threat posed by Hurricane Beryl, adding that the recent drought and water usage restrictions imposed by the City of San Benito have played no role in the state of the water levels.
Historically, the resaca is one of the most prominent fixtures in San Benito. According to the US National Park Service, resacas are the former channels of the Rio Grande Valley. They are naturally dry but do fill up in times of heavy rainfall. This can be dangerous when paired with immense flooding storms, hence the Irrigation District’s decision to drain the resaca ahead of the recent storm. Additionally, residents should notice the resaca water levels returning to normal as of this writing, according to the District.
According to Wikipedia, “resaca” is the name given to a type of oxbow lake in the southern half of Cameron County, and is naturally cut off from the river, having no inlet or outlet.
The Rio Grande’s water moves from Colorado to the Gulf of Mexico. Every year during spring, melted snow flowed into the Rio Grande, bringing seasonal flood waters to the southern tip of Texas. Given the overflow of the river’s main and distributary channel banks, the Rio Grande carved new river channels, dubbed resacas. When the seasonal flooding ended and the river retreated, the newly formed oxbow lakes remained, creating resacas throughout the Rio Grande Valley.
There are two explanations for the origin of the word “resaca.” The first explanation holds that it is a contraction of the Spanish phrase rio seco (dry river). The second explanation is that the word stems from the Spanish word resacar (to retake). The latter is the most plausible explanation given that the primary geological function of a resaca is to divert and dissipate floodwater from the river.
The word resaca is a regionalism. Elsewhere, these are referred to as oxbow lakes, according to Wikipedia.
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