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US Supreme Court settles long-running water dispute over dwindling Rio Grande
The deal requires New Mexico to cut groundwater use by 18,200 acre-feet a year and retire farmland to improve deliveries to Texas.
- The U.S. Supreme Court approved a settlement package Tuesday designed to resolve a long-running water dispute, accepting a special master's recommendation to move forward with agreements first proposed last year by New Mexico, Texas and Colorado.
- Researchers warned that unsustainable Rio Grande use threatens millions across the binational basin, while farmers in southern New Mexico increasingly relied on groundwater pumping as hotter, drier conditions reduced river flows over recent decades, prompting Texas to sue in 2013.
- Stretches of the Rio Grande as far north as Albuquerque are expected to go dry this year for the third time in five years; New Mexico must reduce annual groundwater depletions by 18,200 acre-feet, or about 5.9 billion gallons, with officials planning to retire more than 14 square miles of farmland.
- The settlement restores order to water sharing between two vast irrigation districts in southern New Mexico and western Texas through a detailed accounting system using credits and debits to navigate drought and wet periods, though New Mexico faces additional obligations if deliveries are deferred too long.
- While the Colorado River dominates headlines, experts say Rio Grande challenges are equally dire; Interstate Stream Commission Director Hannah Riseley-White told water experts in March that water problems require collaborative solutions, even as implementation details and costs remain unresolved.
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'Big win for New Mexico': 13-year-long fight over Rio Grande water rights ends
NEW MEXICO (KRQE) – After more than a decade, a legal fight over the Rio Grande's water rights is finally over, this, after the United States Supreme Court signed off on an historic settlement. State leaders see this agreement as a big win for New Mexico, and believe it provides certainty to southern New Mexico residents [...]
·Albuquerque, United States
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The U.S. Supreme Court approved a package of agreements designed to stop the pumping of subterrestrial waters along the r or Bravo.
·Mexico City, Mexico
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Total News Sources38
Leaning Left10Leaning Right4Center15Last UpdatedBias Distribution52% Center
Bias Distribution
- 52% of the sources are Center
52% Center
L 34%
C 52%
14%
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