At War Over Water, Texas And New Mexico Will Face Off Next Week At The Supreme Court
As the state’s population booms, water – or the lack of it – is becoming an increasing problem in west Texas. Each drop is precious. On January 8, Texas and New Mexico are headed to the Supreme Court to give their oral arguments in a dispute over an 80-year-old compact involving water from the Rio Grande. Texas claims New Mexico hasn’t been handing over the state’s allocated share of water, leaving its residents and their pecan trees high and dry.
As soon as the Ramirez Pecan farm in Clint, Texas opens on a Saturday morning, it gets busy. Several customers are walking through the farm’s 300 trees, buckets in hand, collecting pecans while others buy pre-packaged ones in the small gift shop.
Lupe Ramirez runs the family farm.
“My grandmother works here. My aunt works here. My uncle comes in often. My dad stops in when permitted by health. My mom comes out here and does baking. I’m out here,” Ramirez says.
In recent years, getting enough water for the 10-acre farm has become a challenge. About five years ago, Ramirez had to install pumps for groundwater. Lately there just hasn’t been much water in the Rio Grande for farmers like him who live near the end of the 1,800-mile river.
Read more: http://www.texasstandard.org/stories/at-war-over-water-texas-and-new-mexico-will-face-off-next-week-at-the-supreme-court/#
Cross-posted in the New Mexico Group.
