He Paid Ranchers More for Their Water Than Their Land Was Worth

In Texas, if your neighbor drills deeper than you and drains your well, the law says it is his water. One billionaire built a business on that rule. This is the story of T. Boone Pickens, the Ogallala Aquifer, and why water rights can be worth more than the land above them. In this video: The Texas "rule of capture" and the 1999 Texas Supreme Court case Sipriano v. Great Spring Waters How Pickens bought groundwater rights under about 211,000 acres in the Texas Panhandle Why a pipeline to Dallas never got built The 2011 sale of the water rights for about $103 million What this means for anyone buying farmland: ask who owns the water Educational content only. Not financial or legal advice. Figures are rounded. Farmland Vault covers US farmland, land prices, water rights and agri-finance. New videos every week. Subscribe so you don't miss the next one. #farmland #texas #ogallala #waterrights #tboonepickens #groundwater #agriculture #landinvesting