One of its prime sources of water is the Rio Grande.
But climate change is making that increasingly difficult and is pushing the city to look for new sources of water.
Increasing temperatures will make the dry region even more vulnerable to drought, according to the federal government’s most recent national climate assessment.
The district manages the water distribution of some 90,000 acres of farmland along the Rio Grande Valley in New Mexico and Texas.
Since 1958, the amount of early April snowmelt going into the Rio Grande has dropped 25% due to less snowpack and evaporation.
Drought isn’t anything new for the 1,800-mile long river.
It has a capacity of about 2 million acre feet, King said.
For those who rely on the river, like the city of El Paso, they must look for alternative water sources out of necessity.
It is something that El Paso is used to.
That’s more than 20,000 times the amount of water El Paso used this year.