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...