Unsettled Waters: A blog on water rights in the American West

As 2009 closes, I'm more than mid-way through this research stay in New Mexico focused on acequias and adjudication. A couple of recent posts from elsewhere caught my eye, one coming from Emily Green's excellent blog ( ChanceofRain ). This rather nostalgic, and halfway complete, post by a contributor on Spain's system of irrigation works and irrigation mentality was pretty interesting. As one critic noted, however, the post had it only partly right and I would also point to Glick's excellent work on water in Valencia for those wanting to track down the roots of Old World contributions to our New World variants. While the Romans had already put down an impressive hydraulic management template on the Iberian Peninsula, the Moors clearly added on, complemented existing features, and also introduced important institutional aspects of water management. It makes me want to track down the old norias (water wheels) once common in Spain and Portugal. Only a few in Mexico rema...

At the last meetings of the New Mexico Acequia Commission (in November), I was asked by several of the Board Members to inquire about the knowledge and background of water judges in my home state of Colorado. I wrote the following e-mail to the water court contact person, who then forwarded this to Judge Kuenhold who presides in the San Luis Valley (Water division 3, based in Alamosa, CO). Basically, this translates to the upper Rio Grande Basin in Colorado ( see the map ).   I attach below the questions I sent on to the " Dividing the Waters " project, which focuses on training and uniting water judges/attorneys to discuss interstate water issues, then I include the Judge's response. If New Mexicans are rightly concerned about "who rules" on water regulations, adjudication, and rules, it's no less disconcerting that there are no statutory requirements for actual water knowledge to be a Colorado water judge. Many have legal background related to water iss...

I've posted some good water-related blogs to your right of this post, including Aguanomics , WaterWired , ChanceofRain , and Staci Matock's blog . Only Staci is locally based here in northern New Mexico, but the others post quantitatively more material on a daily and weekly basis and they offer excellent comparative perspective on issues from other states. I was to appear and give a brief spiel on my research, and respond to a request about water judges (and their background) in Colorado, to the New Mexico Acequia Commission. With family in town, and research still afoot, I've asked for a pass this week to return in January 2010 when I know (more) about what I'm talking about...in the the mean-time, the posts here are going to get more literary and comparative based on my winter readings, and the return to the state archives in January and February of 2010. But much of my remaining travel will be about the compulsion (or is it need?) of water metering around the state, ...

Yesterday I went out to Chamita , NM, for a visit with the Rundstroms. Ron and Pat have a third of an old long-lot with their own adobe house, and small guest-house for visitors. They're also fans of the old Spanish Aparejo packing system (donkey and mule-based), and had two live assistants on hand, Amiga and Freighter. It was a wide-ranging discussion, mostly focused on interactions with the OSE and how priority dates get established, fixed, and yes...negotiated. I met their mayordomo, Eloy Garcia, at the Congreso in Santa Fe the previous week , so this was a follow-up visit to learn more about the site, the town, and their on-going process of adjudication. Since even earnest lawyers and counsel believe in negotiation, mediation, it's no wonder that ditch dates would seem... flexible. For engineers hiring free-lance historians, it's also no wonder that all they want is a single date, a year, a month, a day (if possible). And for historians who consult for OSE on priority...

As I visit more basins across the state, examining adjudication and its impacts on local water governance, it occurs to me that a comparative post might be useful, at least for context. One of the more useful, but poorly known, websites I've found has to do with a centralized 'bank' of information on current water rights adjudications in New Mexico that can be found here . In the "Red River" section, only Cabresto Dam needs to be resolved, and the rest of that basin has been largely adjudicated. A map version of entered abstracts* (of rights) as a large file .pdf, exists on these adjudications at the OSE and can be downloaded here . The tabular version may be more helpful for those seeking a comparative status check, and you'll find that information at OSE here . There's also good "local talent" on water knowledge in New Mexico, and two of my favorites are the Santa Fe Review (link to water issues), and Staci Matlock's blog on issues th...

The Congreso de las Acequias was formally held on Saturday morning, December 5th, out at the Santa Fe County Fairgrounds. It spilled a bit through lunch , which was (thankfully) a little less...Midwestern than the Friday banquet (no offense, I was born in Ohio, so I can say that about my people). Although Friday was a far busier day because of workshops , since the Saturday session is largely a closed loop ceremony for elections/resolutions, it was interesting to see some modifications occurring in the "regional" acequia structure. Instead of only representing the larger regional associations that are composed of several acequias, they are adding a "type 2" region that represents areas that are currently not included in the NMAA structure. So, now there are "type 1" regions, like the current Taos Valley assocation, the Rio Jemez association (etc.) but also smaller acequias more interspersed throughout the state (such as the Rio Hondo in southern New Mexic...

Day 1, Congreso de las Acequias, Santa Fe, NM Today's activities at the 10th annual  Congreso opened with some remarks by Paula Garcia of the NMAA , followed by a musical performance by a Mr. Roybal who led with a song entitled "Mayordomo." After a brief mingling period, what followed were a rotating set of concurrent workshop sessions. I chose to attend the following. In the first session, on Water Metering and Masters , participants were led by David Benavides of New Mexico Legal Aid , William Gonzales from the Rio Gallinas Acequia Association (see previous post ), and Johnny Reed from the Mimbres Valley (located in southwestern New Mexico). Benavides reviewed the statute language , focusing on what was and was not allowed in terms of water master appointments, but noted the great flexbility the OSE has built into the statute for their own management flexibility. This was followed up by the two acequia reps who detailed how, in two separate cases, the water maste...

On Monday, I was given a substantial tour of the Rio Gallinas upper basin near Las Vegas, and also a courtesy visit to the Gallinas Canyon where several small, mostly depopulated villages are still located (Lourdes among them). William Gonzales , a retired veteran, works closely as a board member of the Rio Gallinas Acequia Association, took time out of his day to show this gabacho around the area. We discussed several items that had been addressed at the court hearings back in early November (see this post ). Principal among these were the remand order, between the city of Las Vegas, acequias and the state engineer's office. Like most quasi-urban areas of the Southwest, the town-cum-city of Las Vegas has struggled to maintain an agricultural greenbelt around its setting. That the Rio Gallinas cuts through town not only determines many of the acequia flow patterns east and west, but also is reflected in the local politics of the town. To hear the RGAA discussing upcoming electi...

As the world's leading politicians are meeting, hoping to hammer out some piddling gesture towards solving climate change (as a contruct) by reducing emissions, this is simply a brief "poke in the eye" at prior appropriation . Happy Thanksgiving New Mexico! That we have the "first in time, first in right" attitude towards water, and apparently not much else, is simply ludicrous. And if the Western States hope to really enforce future "calls on water" by senior water rights holders, they're dreaming at this point. Even in Colorado, the state engineer...excuse me, State Engineer, can issue a " futile call " (scroll down to 'f') if trying to enforce a senior right will result in no water. Remember 2002? You would if you were in Colorado or New Mexico at the time; depending on the data you consult or the model you believe in, it may have been the dryest year in 300+ years. It made the early 1950s drought look cuddly for these two s...

Yesterday, Saturday, November 21st, I attended the umpteenth Junta de las Acequias y Mercedes . It was held in the Oñate Monument and Cultural Center in Alcalde, New Mexico. This event, organized by Rio Arriba County (Commissioners) and its Planning Department representatives, brings together parciantes and land grant commission members from around the state to discuss what might be politely termed the "Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo " cultural hangover. To be clear, the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo applied to all residents of New Mexico at the time of 'transfer' to the United States from Mexico. While Hispanos recite this Treaty like mantra, it's only recently that the Pueblos have started investigating what the Treaty meant and means for them currently (see Hopi case). And I mean this with all due respect - what's crucial to understand here is how imminent and current the land grants (not to mention acequia) issue is for residents of New Mexico of Hispano-M...

One of the most fascinating aspects about acequias in New Mexico is the apparent "division of labor" for these ditches and institutions. This morning, I attended the latest meeting of the New Mexico Acequia Commission , a body of representative appointed by the Governor of the state. It is currently chaired by Ralph Vigil, also an employee of the New Mexico Acequia Association . There's no accident here, as Ralph himself made clear, since the Commission (a government body) used to get its budget indirectly through the NMAA, as part of the latter's state funding specified carving out a chunk from its governance for the Acequia Commission's use. The NMAA is a non-profit, not a state agency. So, no wonder sometimes people are confused about who does what, in what capacity, and for whom. The main "action item" on the agenda for this morning would be predictable for most state employees in the current economy: budget cuts, and budget freezes . In this case,...

Just returned from a long and fruitful discussion with New Mexico's State Engineer, John D'Antonio, and his OSE associate and Acequia Liaison, Hilario Rubio. It is always easier to write theoretically, and in diatribe mode, as a social scientist when state "officials" are depersonalized (as is common). Among the topics discussed: acequia responses to adjudication (multiple and regionally variable), Active Water Resource Management and its continuing legal and administrative challenges across the state, the Mimbres River, the Mora Valley, and areas that have been adjudicated (Red River, Mimbres), are in the process of being adjudicated (Pojoaque Valley, Taos Valley, Chama), or where adjudication has not even begun (Middle Rio Grande). They have my sympathy in trying to actively manage water resources in an arid state with essentially three operational sets of water law in place: federal and Pueblo reserve rights, Spanish and Mexican arrangements for water-sharing (...

One of the central concerns of the State Engineer, and of the Utton Transboundary Resource Center (at UNM), is the public image and message of the on-going adjudication process. People tend to react negatively when they receive any kind of legal document, and it's no wonder that so many don't respond to initial offers of judgment or consent orders, so the "back end" work on this is time-consuming. Just look at the map to see the number of in-process adjudications, and this figures does not include the real beast that has yet to start, the Middle Rio Grande. I've written about Darcy Bushnell's efforts already at the Utton Center and her role in the Ombudsman Program. One of her central challenges is to facilitate public understanding of adjudication and I think this video in English and Spanish does a good job in explaining the process. Adjudication reform is also under discussion, because of the conflicts generated within and because of adjudication as ...

I sat in on two court meetings, overseen by a Special Master for the Pecos River (adjudications) this morning, the first on the shortage-sharing agreements in the larger Las Vegas area, the second on the Pecos River adjudication itself. Sharing a "shortage" may seem like negative accounting to some, but it has a long and rich customary history in New Mexico. I will try not to be wordy, which is difficult when you have to explain concepts like "legal threshold" (great euphemism), but it was both a dull and interesting moment to observe. These proceedings can inherently be dull because it is a discussion, most of the time, about agreements already entered into, a kind of status check so that the Special Master can observe if on-going negotiations and settlements between parties (say, Las Vegas and the regional acequias) are having their desired effect, hopefully a long-term settlement. Part A of the proceedings this morning was really about the now remanded Pueblo...