'It's so dystopian. It's sad': The Rio Grande River is so dry that Texas, Colorado and New Mexico are squabbling over groundwater

"New Mexico officials say the agreements allow water conservation decisions to be made locally while avoiding a doomsday scenario of billion-dollar payouts on water shortfalls. Farmers in southern New Mexico increasingly have turned to groundwater as hotter and drier conditions reduced river flows and storage. That pumping is what prompted Texas to sue, claiming the practice was cutting into water deliveries."

"In 1939, when New Mexico was a young, sparsely populated state, it ratified a compact with Texas and Colorado for sharing the waters of the Rio Grande. The agreement defined credits and debits and set parameters for when water could be stored upstream. From the San Luis Valley in Colorado to below Elephant Butte Reservoir in New Mexico, the compact called for gages to monitor the river, ensuring downstream obligations were met."

The Supreme Court sent western states and the federal government back to negotiations over Rio Grande management, prompting new settlement proposals from New Mexico, Texas and Colorado. The proposals aim to rein in groundwater pumping in New Mexico and ensure reliable river deliveries to Texas while preserving local control over conservation decisions. A special master will recommend whether the settlements should be endorsed by the Court. If approved, the settlements would restore order to the storage and sharing system between adjacent irrigation districts but will require New Mexico to make difficult decisions under new obligations. Historic compact rules and shrinking mountain snowpacks complicate compliance.

Read at Fortune