Water Is Coming To The Supreme Court

Mark your calenders for April 23, 2013 - - oral arguments before the Supreme Court on Tarrant Regional Water District v. Herrmann.

This is a link to an excellent summary of the TX-OK water rights issues.  Here is a summary from the article:

Next month, Texas' challenge to those laws will be heard at the Supreme Court in Tarrant Regional Water District v. Herrmann, a case that could have far-reaching implications for precious water resources in the West. Experts say that if the court upholds Oklahoma's laws, it has the potential to undo the more than 25 water compacts on which Western states rely.

The compact language at the heart of the dispute, said attorney Kirsten Nathanson of Crowell & Moring, is of "broad importance."

"Similar language appears in many of the interstate compacts in this country," said Nathanson, who's not directly involved in the case. "It would allow states to have statutes similar to Oklahoma's, and that would cause all kinds of disruption in the implementation of these compacts."

Bottom line, she said: The court could throw the current water crisis into overdrive.