Adjudication, electronic resources, and context

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 that range from conservation toilets, to Buckman Diversion, to tracking the progress [sic] of development in the urban areas of the state. You can also check out Staci's past blog here (last active in 2008, but some good older posts available). I've linked to the Buckman project in the past, but in case you missed it, it's here. Mind you, the Santa Fe bladder dam (aka Buckman) is tiny compared to Albuquerque's giant crazy straw of a system (slow loading site!) that can extract 20 times more water from the Rio Grande. I also found a decent term paper on groundwater and hydrogeology of the upper MRG area here, and although a bit dated, has some good citations and is a persistent reminder of how widely this information is now spread. And, as always, remember to check La Jicarita often for the latest in upstart, dark underbelly news when it relates to land and water. For actual "data" in quantitative form, the USGS maintains a good, interactive, and geospatial website with a live mapper feature for stream flow data. You can find that here; the OSE is not the only one tracking flow, but these are major streams, rather than the smaller acequia instrumentation going in now in 7 different basins.

I've taken a few, sometimes impolite and sarcastic swipes at the regional water groups, but they are still active and do some interesting activities. The Middle Rio Grande's "water assembly" is one of the more visible ones, well organized too, and you can continue to track their projects here. Since the beginning of this project, a few years old, I've been reading some excellent water blogs, like the rather economics-focused California-centric Zetland's Aguanomics, and Campana's WaterWired (a bit more wide-ranging, good on science, too). For a good comparative website, see also Emily Green's ChainceOfRain blog, which builds from two years of tracking water issues in the dry Western U.S. For a "deeper shade of green" on water issues, try Peter Gleick's blog and also the one maintained by ecologist John Matthews (needs some updates!).

To return to New Mexico, if you have not read or at least glanced at the NM Water Dialog documents from the Institute of Public Law at UNM, please do so (find it here). The transcripts are also fascinating, to see the regional differences (and similarities) of stakeholder perspectives shared by citizens in the state on how to reform the adjudication process. That adjudication didn't really "happen" physically in New Mexico between 1907 and 1967, some sixty years, is no surprise. Given a lack of resources, this was going to be a challenge anyway given the most complicated cultural overlap of disjunct water laws (Pueblo/Spain/Mex/US), it was only the plans for large dams and diversion projects that kick-started the adjudications in the upper basin of the Rio Grande forty years ago. You can find a good summary of the process, time-line, and aspects involved in claiming water rights here at the BLM overview site. Just note that their claim that the OSE has been adjudicating "since 1907" is a rather diplomatic nod...there was really no field staff in OSE until the 1950s and no discernible push until the mid-1960s.

From the road, all for now...
* corrected 1.27.10 - Thanks A.S.!