The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality filed a complaint Tuesday with the U.S. Supreme Court, asking it to order New Mexico to release water the commission believes belongs to Texas, the American-Statesman reports. Texas says that New Mexico has dodged a 74-year-old agreement to deliver Texas’ share of Rio Grande water by illegally allowing diversions of both surface and underground water.
“It is unfortunate that we have had to resort to legal action, but negotiations with New Mexico have been unsuccessful, and Texas is not getting the water that it is allocated and legally entitled to,” TCEQ Commissioner Carlos Rubinstein told the paper in a statement.
Much of the agricultural land in Texas receives its water from the Rio Grande, and constitutes half the water supply for El Paso. Jump for the full filing:
