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December 15, 2020
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Monday morning in favor of New Mexico in a water dispute case with Texas involving the Pecos River Compact. The court denied a motion to review the Pecos River Master’s decision regarding evaporative losses that occurred while New Mexico was storing water upstream for Texas.
After a tropical storm hit the area in September 2014, the state of Texas asked New Mexico to store water it would normally deliver to Texas under the compact in the Brantley Reservoir while Texas grappled with flooding issues related to the storm.
Texas finally asked for the water to be released in August 2015, but by then, roughly 20,000 acre-feet of water had evaporated. Under the compact’s River Master’s Manual, New Mexico is not responsible for making up evaporative water losses when the state is holding water at the request of Texas. In 2017, the river master determined that New Mexico’s delivery obligation would be reduced by 16,000 acre feet as a
Colin KalmbacherDec 14th, 2020, 1:27 pm
The Pecos River merges with the Rio Grande (L), at the U.S.-Mexico border on October 16, 2016 near Landry, West Texas. The Rio Grande, which forms the Texas-Mexico border, is supplemented by various rivers along its course before flowing into the Gulf of Mexico.
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday ruled against Texas in a dispute with New Mexico over water rights. The case and decision present a somewhat uncommon instance of the court’s original jurisdiction.
Writing for a 7-1 majority, Justice
Brett Kavanaugh denied a motion by the Lone Star State to review a 2015 determination by the Pecos River Master. The master previously determined that New Mexico was entitled to a credit for lost rainwater after Texas asked for the water to be stored in a federal reservoir for use during drought season–which resulted in a massive depletion of the resource.