What you propose is nice but ignores property rights. The way it works is, you buy a farm with well defined and priced surface water rights. Some rights are better than others (I've seen water compacts like on the Alamosa or maybe Cimarron that were from Spanish times and were first-to-last, for example, i.e. most upstream got all they wanted and then the next guy etc.), but those rights entitle you to surface irrigation, but of course only if there is water. EBID (Elephant Butte Irrigation District) farmers have not gotten a full allotment (typically 24-36 inches) in a long time. You would probably have to go back 20+ years to find consecutive full-allotment years.
At any rate EPWU (El Paso Water Utilities), EBID, and various other agencies have been buying up these rights to reduce overall ag use of watershed for years. We were offered, as I recall, about $4k an acre for ours back in the mid 1980s. If you want to fill Elephant Butte up, or flood Lajitas, or stop farming in New Mexico or whatever all you have to do is buy up all those surface rights.
EPWU does still get most of its water from groundwater (wells) and the river, which is the same thing. Also I didn't read the OP article but there have been court cases on every NM/Texas river system since forever, I'm sure there is litigation now, and I'm sure this litigation will go on forever.