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IN PHOTO A man walks on the river bank of the Rio Grande in the border city of Ciudad Juarez, Mexico December 13, 2007. Under a 1944 treaty, every five years Mexico is required to hand over water to the United States from the two dams the countries share on the Texas border. Historically, the Rio Grande, the fifth-longest river in the United States, flowed continuously from Colorado to the Gulf of Mexico. But since the 1900s, damming, channelization and over-exploitation have endangered its survival. To match feature MEXICO-USA/WATER. Picture taken December 13, 2007. REUTERS/Tomas Bravo

Wars for water can be more deadly than guns in the Wild Wild West. The mighty Rio Grande which meanders through 1600 miles from the San Juan Mountains to the Gulf of Mexico has pushed the states of Texas and New Mexico into protracted battle. The culmination of the “Water War” has reached the U.S. Supreme Court. With the drought in California hogging headlines, the water wars have pushed back the climate debate into the forefront.

The perils of drought in California, hurricanes in Florida coast, Snowdrifts burying New York have made the climate change debate more intense. Rio Grande, once a mighty force of nature has reduced to mere trickle affecting millions of people. Ranchers and other farmers are experiencing the pinch of drought as two million acres of orchard lands, ranches, farmlands and lawns lay parched. To top it all, the courtroom water war has commenced between Texas and Mexico over river water sharing. The U.S. Supreme Court granted the U.S. Solicitor General’s motion to be on the bench as Texas against Mexico. Texas which is the downstream state for Rio Grande alleges that New Mexico farmers were tapping more water from the river than they are entitled. Presidential hopeful, Senator Ted Cruz said, “The water debt and uncertainty harmed the interest of Texas ranchers and farmers,” and plans to introduce legislation to address Mexico’s failure to address the problem.

The Rio Grande Compact of 1938 provides a framework of using the water from the river, but does not differentiate between ground and surface water. New Mexico consumes mostly ground water and alleges that the Compact does not state how much water should end up in Texas. “The Federal Government would have a stake in this process," Jeremy Brown of University of Texas School of Law says.

Texas is hoping for a win in this water war, but perils of drought has brought back the spectre of water rationing and environmental cost to other life like vanishing fish and gulls from Rio Grande to the focus. Rio Grande which is fed by melting snow is the most recent causality of climate change along with the Sacramento River in California or the Colorado River.

For questions/comments regarding the article, you may email the writer at honeygeorge74.ibtimes@gmail.com.

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