Acequias de Chupadero Matanza

We attended the celebratory "matanza" yesterday in the nearby village of Chupadero; this was to commemorate, if not celebrate outright, the recent and perhaps temporary victory of the acequia in a water rights transfer case. At stake was the village's ditch waters that run through the physical acequia in Chupadero. An applicant, or plaintiff, had tried to transfer water rights along the stream and also between surface rights to groundwater rights, and the commissioners denied that request. While decided administratively by the acequia's commissioners, the fact that the plaintiffs (folks hoping to transfer water along and out of the ditch in Chupadero) dropped their appeal was significant. A new state statute, from 2003, gives acequias the ability to approve or deny transfers of waters especially when "impairment" of ditch water is at stake. This new rule is getting severely tested as you might expect, but there just haven't been that many (formal) cases yet. The downside to the dropped appeal is that no "case law" in terms of formal jurisprudence was established. So while Cook vs. Acequia del Gavilan (near Espanola/Ojo Caliente) case has a formal pathway and some paperwork to follow, this was all based on testimony heard and recorded in the acequia "chambers" in Chupadero. Santa Fe Properties has, at least for the time being, relented. We'll see what the next move is on their side of the ditch.

Now, to the event: Commissioners and parciantes had built a nice home-made sunken pig pit in which to roast said animal, as well as some of the "bonus" game meats provided by Jack. He'd had a great hunting season so the menu included antelope, elk, wild turkey, and supposedly an elusive trout (I never saw it). I calmly and patiently waited out the carnivorous parciantes to get a taste of the pig cheeks (cachetes) and was finally rewarded by a nice, meaty, fatty cut. It was like buttah.

This was all held in a parciante's backyard on a beautiful 68 degree day, kids everywhere, chickens loose, and a couple of goats distracting a few of the visitors. It was a meat-fest, to say the least, but I did save some room for an unholy combination of sugared french toast/peach cobbler concoction someone made.
It's rare than an acequia gets to celebrate good news when it comes to legal cases, but in this instance, it was time to enjoy. Testimonials, speeches, followed and it was nice to see people gathered for the occasion.
You can read more about the Cook cases here and more recent news here, and of course, props to La Jicarita which continues to publish the official but underground stories on water and land disputes in New Mexico.
Now it's time for a follow-up piece; stay tuned.