The University of Texas at El Paso has won a $4.9 million grant to lead a study of how to do more with less water.
The El Paso Times reports that the university will use the money to investigate the impacts of climate change in the Rio Grande Basin.
UTEP was among six recipients of the U.S. Department of Agriculture grant, tasked with inventing ways to manage competing demands for decreasing water supplies.
UTEP's Center for Environmental Research director William Hargrove says that growth in the arid border region of El Paso and Ciudad Juarez is already straining supplies. Agriculture is particularly challenged.
The plan calls for researchers to test possible solutions in the third year of the project and implement solutions in the fourth year.
Copyright 2015 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.