“ There is no obvious reason why Texas and Oklahoma would have wanted to restrict New Mexico's ability to increase reservoir capacity below Conchas Dam, particularly in light of the fact that larger reservoirs actually promote one of the purposes stated in Article I of the Compact, which is to capture and conserve as much of the Canadian River's flood flows as possible, flows which might otherwise be dissipated and therefore wasted. ”

“ This conclusion does not favor one view or another about New Mexico's right to capture some of the overflow from Conchas Dam, since it is clear that New Mexico was physically incapable of capturing all of the overflow from the massive floods that have occurred twice this century. The Bureau's estimates merely reflect reality; they do not suggest that the Compact requires waters flowing from Conchas spills to serve the Sanford Project alone. ”

“ The Canadian River traverses three States. It originates in the high country of northern New Mexico, flowing southeast from there into the Texas Panhandle. New Mexico has erected two dams on the River, the Conchas Dam and the Ute Dam, which provide irrigation water for farming and municipal water for the city of Tucumcari, New Mexico. In Texas, the Sanford Project diverts water to serve the municipal and industrial requirements of Texas cities throughout the Texas Panhandle region, from Amarillo to Lubbock. ”

“ Furthermore, as New Mexico points out, sedimentation alone would constantly reduce New Mexico's storage capacity below the 200,000 limit, forcing New Mexico to repeatedly either build new reservoir capacity or enlarge existing reservoirs. Either of those options would be extremely expensive and Oklahoma points to no persuasive evidence that the drafters of the Compact intended that New Mexico should bear such a burden. ”

“ New Mexico enjoys free and unrestricted use of the latter. The ordinary understanding of what it means for waters to "originate" in a basin is that they "arise" or "com [e] into existence" in that location. See 10 Oxford English Dictionary 935-936 (2d ed. 1989) . Thus, according to the plain meaning of Article IV (a) , New Mexico may make unrestricted use of the Canadian River waters that arise above Conchas Dam. These waters may be stored, used, or diverted for use without limitation. ”

“ The Court also acknowledges that the Compact gives New Mexico the included right to capture additional waters at or above Conchas and then divert them to downstream locations. See ante, at 242, n. 12. The Court's construction, therefore, does not prevent New Mexico from capturing flood waters and diverting them to projects below Conchas Dam; it merely forces the State to take its rightful waters by means of costly, inefficient, and wasteful engineering. ”

“ F.W. Woolworth Co., 706 P.2d 523, 529 (Okla.1985) ; Hobbs Trailers v. J.T. Arnett Grain Co., 560 S.W.2d 85, 87 (Tex.1977) ; Trujillo v. CS Cattle Co., 109 N.M. 705, 709-710, 790 P.2d 502, 506-507 (1990) . ”