The Supreme Court approved a settlement Tuesday in the legal battle over the Rio Grande, ending a long-running dispute between Texas and New Mexico over groundwater use.
In a brief order, the court announced it would enter a final decree in Texas v. New Mexico and Colorado, which Judge D. Brooks Smith of the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, the case’s special master, recommended earlier this year. Smith was also discharged from the case, with “the thanks of the Court.”
Under the settlement, New Mexico will forfeit 5.9 billion gallons of groundwater annually to ensure Texas receives its full share of Rio Grande water. The agreement also includes the creation of a new water management plan for the region.
The states, along with Colorado, share the Rio Grande under a 1938 compact. The river emerges from the southern Colorado Rockies and runs into New Mexico and then to Texas, where it forms the border with Mexico.
