The Supreme Court rejects a settlement in a water dispute between New Mexico and Texas

By LINDSAY WHITEHURST
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court has rejected a settlement between Western states over the management of one of North America’s longest rivers. Friday’s 5-4 decision rebuffs an agreement recommended by a federal judge overseeing the case over how New Mexico, Texas and Colorado must share water from the Rio Grande. The high court ruled the federal government still had claims about New Mexico’s water use that the agreement would not resolve. Farmers in southern New Mexico have had to rely more heavily on groundwater wells over the last two decades as drought and climate change reduced flows. Texas originally sued over the groundwater pumping, saying the practice was cutting into the amount of water delivered.