NM congressional delegation urges quick resolution to water dispute

With a new administration taking over the White House in January, New Mexico’s congressional delegation is calling upon the Biden administration to resolve the long-running litigation over Rio Grande water rights before the end of the year.

In a letter to Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland and Attorney General Merrick Garland, the delegation, all Democrats, asks the DOI and DOJ to quickly resolve the Texas v. New Mexico and Colorado litigation in collaboration with the parties.

The U.S. Supreme Court last summer nixed a proposed settlement reached between Texas, and New Mexico and Colorado over the allocation of waters of the Rio Grande. Texas originally sued New Mexico in 2013, alleging farmers pumping groundwater in southern New Mexico were diverting water that had been allocated to Texas via the 1938 Rio Grande Compact. But the majority of the Supreme Court found that the federal government, which opposed the settlement, needed to consent to any deal.

The states and federal government must go to mediation no later than Dec. 16 in Washington, D.C., to settle their disputes or risk going to trial in federal court.

Any settlement could impact how groundwater is managed in the Rio Grande basin in New Mexico and West Texas, both for agriculture and in cities that pump water from aquifers, such as Albuquerque and Las Cruces.

The letter to Haaland and Garland was signed by U.S. Sens. Martin Heinrich and Ben Ray Luján and U.S. Reps. Gabe Vasquez, Melanie Stansbury and Teresa Leger Fernández.

“Over the last year, nearly every part of the state has experienced a period of drought. That means that more than 2.1 million New Mexicans and almost 44,000 businesses have had inconsistent or extremely limited access to water in the last year,” the Nov. 14 letter stated.

“In times of worsening drought and precipitation out of line with historical patterns, it is imperative that our communities, municipalities, farmers, ranchers, and businesses have as much clarity about their future water supplies as possible. A delayed resolution to the issues posed in the Supreme Court’s decision in Texas v. New Mexico and Colorado imperils the ability of water users to prepare for more common and more extreme droughts in the Rio Grande Basin.”

The delegation’s letter also noted that New Mexico has the lowest water-to-land ratio of all 50 states. “As of November 7, 2024, a majority of the state of New Mexico is experiencing some degree of abnormal dryness or drought,” the letter said.

“Communities in the Basin are constantly grappling with the unpredictability of water supplies due to long-term aridification. A speedy resolution will allow for all parties to move forward and pursue water use practices that best serve their people.”