Rio Grande High Court Ruling Could Discourage State Water Deals

The outcome of a US Supreme Court case over the federal government’s involvement in a dispute over Rio Grande water allocation may discourage states from striking interstate water compacts in the future, legal experts say.

The Supreme Court last week agreed to resolve the original jurisdiction case, Texas v. New Mexico, which has been pending at the court for a decade. Oral arguments are scheduled for March 20.

Texas originally alleged that New Mexico was taking too much water under the Rio Grande Compact. The states agreed to settle, but after the court in 2018 allowed the US ...