Red River Compact Signatories Texas and Oklahoma Agree to Allow Cross Border Water Usage

In a move that may signal a willingness for future compromise, Texas and Oklahoma entered into a memorandum of agreement yesterday that will end further fighting over water usage at a Texas pump station that straddles state lines.  When the pump station was built on Lake Texoma by the North Texas Municipal Water District in 1987, it was believed to be wholly within the Texas boundaries.  Later mapping and geological surveys showed that six pumps were actually constructed in Oklahoma according to political boundaries set in 2000.  Under yesterday’s agreement, Texas Governor Rick Perry and Oklahoma Governor Mary Fannin agreed to allow the district’s continued use of the pump station, including the six pumps located wholly or partially on the Oklahoma side, so long as the amount of water taken from the lake does not increase.

This compromise follows the Supreme Court’s opinion last June in Tarrant Regional Water District v. Hermann, 133 S. Ct. 2120 (2013), in which the Court unanimously held that the Red River Compact between Oklahoma, Texas, Arkansas, and Louisiana does not allow any of those states to cross borders to take water from another state.  The Red River Compact allocates to each state—including Arkansas—a 25 percent share of the excess water in the almost 1,400-mile long Red River Basin.