SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico’s highest court gave a green light Monday to the state’s top water manager to decide proposed water rights transfers to help increase flows in the drought-stricken Pecos River.

The state Supreme Court ruled that the state engineer’s office can move ahead with an administrative hearing on a proposal to transfer water rights to allow more pumping of groundwater near Carlsbad in southeastern New Mexico. The water will go by pipeline into a reservoir where it could be released to boost river flows.