WATER SECURITYU.S. Supreme Court Blocks the Texas’s Rio Grande Water Deal with New Mexico
Water law experts say the Supreme Court’s recent decision will set a precedent for the federal government to intervene in water conflicts between states moving forward.
The U.S. Supreme Court rejected a deal struck between Texas and New Mexico on Friday over the management of water in the Rio Grande, ruling the federal government should have a say in any agreement reached.
The 5-4 opinion is the latest twist in a conflict dating back to the 1930s, when Colorado, New Mexico and Texas agreed to share water in the Rio Grande.
Most recently in 2022, Texas and New Mexico sought an agreement that side-stepped the federal government. Federal regulators objected because it would impact an international water treaty with Mexico.
In the majority opinion, the court said “we cannot now allow Texas and New Mexico to leave the United States up the river without a paddle.”
The ruling comes as Texas and other states clamor for water. The region along the Rio Grande, in particular, is still considered in a drought.
Water “is never an issue until there isn’t enough. When there isn’t enough, suddenly everybody starts to look at the various agreements that share this water source,” said Amy Hardberger, a water law professor at Texas Tech School of Law, about the water conflicts.
The decades-long dispute centers around an 80 year-old water agreement, known as the Rio Grande Compact, which legally binds Colorado, New Mexico and Texas to share the water in the Rio Grande. The 1938 agreement ended years of water disputes between the three states and directed how the states should split surface water.
Under the compact, Colorado must deliver a proportion of water each year to New Mexico at the state line and New Mexico must deliver a certain amount of water to the Elephant Butte Reservoir, located in southern New Mexico, for Texas.
In a 2013 complaint, Texas sued New Mexico, alleging groundwater pumping by New Mexico was taking water from the Rio Grande owed to Texas, causing river levels in the state to drop and depriving Texans of the water they’re obligated to.
Texas accused New Mexico of violating the interstate compact that has governed water allocations between the two states and Colorado for decades.
Water law experts say the Supreme Court’s recent decision has significant implications for future interstate water disputes, which would allow the federal government to intervene in water conflicts between states moving forward.
