The United States Supreme Court approved a comprehensive settlement agreement ending a 13-year interstate legal battle over the Rio Grande Compact. Announced by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality on June 5, the final consent decree formally resolves long-standing disputes regarding water deliveries to Texas from New Mexico and Colorado.
The high court issued a journal entry on May 26 adopting the final decree and discharging the assigned Special Master, concluding litigation first initiated by Texas in January 2013.
Governor Greg Abbott called the resolution a major victory that protects state water allocations and guarantees reliable resource deliveries to downstream agricultural operations, municipalities, and border families.
TCEQ officials said the settled framework introduces localized structural improvements to the basin’s operations, including stricter regional groundwater management mandates and earlier intervention triggers to protect shared allocations during periods of severe drought.
Throughout the multiyear dispute, the Texas Legislature sustained state intervention efforts by providing continuous agency appropriations to fund outside counsel and technical research teams.