New Mexico, Texas and Colorado negotiate settlement over Rio Grande

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico, Texas and Colorado have negotiated a proposed settlement that they are saying will finish a yearslong battle over administration of one of many longest rivers in North America, however the federal authorities and two irrigation districts that depend upon the Rio Grande are objecting.

New Mexico Legal professional Basic Hector Balderas on Tuesday introduced that the states had brokered a deal following months of negotiations. Whereas the phrases stay confidential, his workplace known as it “a complete decision of all of the claims within the case.”

“Excessive drought and erratic local weather occasions necessitate that states should work collectively to guard the Rio Grande, which is the lifeblood of our New Mexico farmers and communities,” Balderas mentioned in a press release. “And I’m very upset that the U.S. is exerting federal overreach and standing in the way in which of the states’ historic water settlement.”

Attorneys with the U.S. Division of Justice and irrigation districts that serve farmers downstream of Elephant Butte reservoir argued that the proposal wouldn’t be a workable resolution. The river is managed via a system of federal dams and canals underneath provisions of a water-sharing settlement that additionally entails Mexico.

The case has been pending earlier than the U.S. Supreme Court docket for almost a decade. Texas has argued that groundwater pumping in southern New Mexico has diminished river flows, limiting how a lot water makes it throughout the border. New Mexico argues that it has been shorted on its share of the river.

New Mexico and the opposite states plan within the coming weeks to submit their movement to maneuver the proposed settlement ahead, opening the door for federal officers and the irrigation districts to reply.

One other listening to has been scheduled for January.

The battle over the Rio Grande has develop into a multimillion-dollar case in a area the place water provides are dwindling resulting from elevated demand together with drought and hotter temperatures introduced on by local weather change.

Up to now, New Mexico has spent roughly $21 million on attorneys and scientists over the past 9 years.

Final fall, the particular grasp overseeing the case presided over the primary section of trial, which included testimony from farmers, hydrologists, irrigation managers and others. Extra technical testimony was anticipated to be a part of the subsequent section, which has now been delay.

Earlier this yr, a few of the river’s stretches in New Mexico marked report low flows, leading to some farmers voluntarily fallowing fields to assist the state meet downstream water-sharing obligations.

Within the Elephant Butte Irrigation District, officers lately warned farmers that they’ll possible anticipate one other late begin to the irrigation season in 2023 and that allotments can be low once more for the reason that system relies upon much less on summer season rains and extra on spring runoff from snowmelt in southern Colorado and northern New Mexico.