Sharing the Common Pool: Water Rights in the Everyday Lives of Texans

5. Water: Shared Ownership

[ 43 States neighboring Texas claim ownership of their surface water and groundwater. The states share surface water, from major boundary rivers to hundreds of streams and creeks. The Red River and the Sabine River form part of our boundaries with Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Louisiana . Texas shares transboundary aquifers with New Mexico, and the Rio Grande springs from Colorado and New Mexico headwaters. In any dispute between states over surface water, the only court with jurisdiction is the United States Supreme Court. OKLAHOMA, ARKANSAS, LOUISIANA, AND NEW MEXICO To date there have been few disputes with our neighboring states other than some boundary disputes with Oklahoma as the Red River meanders—disputes concerning oil and gas reserve locations. The Sabine River between Texas and Louisiana is located in the wet area of the state in relation to rainfall, so the potential for disputes over water issues is lessened. However, the Sabine springs from headwaters in Texas, and any diversion of Sabine flow would certainly concern Louisiana, as any diversion of the Sabine on the Louisiana side would Texas. The 5 WATER: SHARED OWNERSHIP Who Owns Water? 44 ] Canadian River flows through the Texas Panhandle from New Mexico through a large part of Oklahoma. Any diversions by New Mexico and/ or Texas concern Oklahoma. In the early twentieth century the Elephant Butte Reservoir on the Rio Grande caused quite a debate, but Texas and New Mexico came to agreement and the reservoir was built. There are too many creeks and streams that flow in and out of the states to mention, but any question about any stream shared by the states should first be directed to the TCEQ. MEXICO The US Border Patrol and the Mexican Army knows borders, but water does not recognize national boundaries.—Bill Tilney, former mayor of El Paso and consul general in Ciudad Juárez Texas and Mexico share a 1,254-mile boundary along the Rio Grande (Río Bravo in Mexico). The “border” is an area south of a line (IH-10) from El Paso to San Antonio and south and west of a line (IH37 ) from San Antonio to Corpus Christi. The population growth along View from the middle of Amistad Dam looking south. Photo by author. [ 45 Water: Shared Ownership the border has been staggering in the past decade. Areas such as the Rio Grande Valley between McAllen and Brownsville boom even today. McAllen amazingly has the lowest per capita household income (less than $20,000 per year) yet has the highest per capita household retail sales (more than $80,000 per year). This statistic alone indicates the special situation along the Lower Rio Grande; retail purchases by citizens from northern Mexico drive the McAllen economy. El Paso is in a long-term growth period and has recently seen an even greater increase in growth, which is logical as thousands are fleeing drug wars in Juárez to live in El Paso. The US Army base at Fort Bliss continues to grow and bring economic stability to the area, as does the University of Texas at El Paso. The people of the border are a unique blend of Americans and Mexicans who consider the Rio Grande as just another watercourse to cross. Most border people are concerned with their families on either side with much less attention paid to nationalities—their families and friends are simply people, not Mexicans or Americans. “The essential, defining geographic characteristic of the borderland is its aridity—the scarcity of water.”1 The surface water in the border area is prone to depletion from time to time by drought coupled with irrigation . For years, the only focus has been on surface water; the treaties and agreements with Mexico ignored groundwater and associated aquifers. However, the United States and Mexico share 18 groundwater sources, all of which conjunctively relate in some manner with the shared river, Rio Grande/Río Bravo. Groundwater conservation districts in Texas regulate groundwater in some areas along the Rio Grande. However, not all the borderlands in Texas along the Rio Grande are subject to GCDs; there is no district in the Del Rio area, for example. In Mexico, groundwater can be owned privately as it was during Spanish rule, but groundwater underlying public lands is government owned. Mexican law allows the government to regulate groundwater use on a priority basis and may place public use of groundwater above private use as deemed...