The U.S. Supreme Court appears poised to finally hear a lawsuit between Texas and New Mexico over water rights to the Rio Grande, says The Texas Tribune. Three years ago, the Lone Star state alleged that New Mexico farmers were taking more than their fair share of the river’s water. Now a court-appointed special master, Gregory Grismal, has released a 273-page report recommending that the court ignore New Mexico’s request to drop the suit.
Historically, Texas has received 43 percent of the Rio Grande’s flow, with 57 percent going to New Mexico. But Texas argues that its neighbor is pulling too much water from the river and pumping too much from the ground. New Mexico says that the Rio Grande Compact of 1938 never explicitly states that it has to deliver 43 percent to the Texas state line, just that sufficient water needs to be stored in New Mexico’s Elephant Butte Reservoir. Grismal found this defense unconvincing.
The federal government also has a dog in this fight, since it’s obligated to deliver Rio Grande water to Mexico, according to a 1906 treaty. With support from the Obama administration, the U.S. Solicitor General filed a motion to intervene on Texas’ behalf in 2014. So far, both states and the federal government have racked up a $400,000 bill for Grismal’s research services.
However the case is decided, it will not be the last water war over the Rio Grande, which is extremely prone to drought. “Of the American West’s four iconic river basins, the Rio Grande is “facing the largest climate-change water-supply deficits,” according to a December 2015 report in the journal Ecological Applications,” says the Tribune.