January 2, 2008--Shared waters means shared problems (American Water Works Association)
The pressures of growth and drought are placing increasing demands on surface and groundwater supplies and increasing the competition among states and cities. As a result, interstate compacts and other agreements over river flows and groundwater have ended up in court as states have sued each other for reliable supplies. Michael Jess, a hydrologist and professor at the University of Nebraska, described some of the issues at the Groundwater Foundation National Conference in Denver in late November. Kansas has sued Nebraska for allowing too much groundwater withdrawal in the Republican River basin. Texas and New Mexico ended up in the US Supreme Court over the Pecos River. Flows at the Texas border are now overseen by a river master, and New Mexico has retired water uses by buying up ranches in order to cap wells and bulldoze canals.
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