Emergency Crime Scene and Biohazard Cleanup in Del Rio, TX

Del Rio (Spanish for from the river) is a city in and the county seat of Val Verde County in southwestern Texas, sitting on the Rio Grande directly across from Ciudad Acuna, Mexico.

Spanish colonists settled on the north side of the Rio Grande at present-day Del Rio as early as the 18th century, and the settlement was long known as San Felipe Del Rio before its post office opened under the name Del Rio in 1872.

Del Rio had a population of 34,673 at the 2020 census, slightly down from 35,591 in 2010.

Del Rio has about 12,407 households with an average of 2.69 people per household, and about 68.7% of its homes are owner-occupied.

Del Rio is a deeply bilingual border city - about 85.3% of residents are Hispanic or Latino, and roughly two-thirds of residents speak a language other than English at home.

Laughlin Air Force Base, about 9 miles east of Del Rio, is the largest pilot training base in the U.S. Air Force and the area's largest employer; it first opened as Laughlin Field in 1942 and was rebuilt as an Air Force base in 1952.

Del Rio is home to Val Verde Winery, founded in 1883 by Italian immigrant Frank Qualia and still run by his descendants - it is the oldest continuously operating winery in Texas.

The winery and early farms were made possible by San Felipe Springs and San Felipe Creek, whose water was channeled into irrigation ditches by the San Felipe Agriculture, Manufacturing, and Irrigation Company in the 1860s.

Just northwest of Del Rio lies Amistad Reservoir and the Amistad National Recreation Area on the Rio Grande, renowned for bass fishing and boating in the desert border country.

Del Rio is the principal city of the Del Rio micropolitan statistical area, which covers all of Val Verde County, home to 47,586 people in 2020.