The Rio Grande Compact—signed in 1938 between Colorado, New Mexico and Texas—sealed the river’s fate. The compact ensured that farmers in all three states would get their share of water.

TERLINGUA, Texas — Paddling the Rio Grande River offers a unique adventure in the southwestern United States, but it is a wilderness trip for experienced and well-prepared paddlers.

Migrants travel across the Rio Grande river into the United States from Mexico on a raft, in this aerial photograph taken with a drone near Penitas, Texas, U.S., March 21, 2019.

Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser pledged to keep working with other states to find a solution to sharing water in the Rio Grande, site of a decades-long dispute.

The Rio Grande roared back to life as irrigation flows resumed from Caballo Lake. The annual release of water Friday, May 30, marks the start of the irrigation season, sending an estimated 25,000 ...