Water, past and present

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 remain to this day.

This was all the result of re-considering how my fairly specific work on New Mexico compares to other water management institutions, whether the current OSE compares to colonial Egypt, current Australian efforts, or more historic battles of water in the Southwest. And I keep re-visiting Mitchell's excellent "Rule of Experts" (2002, UC Press) for insight on how technopolitics and rationality became co-mingled in Egyptian daily governance...but trying to keep my feet wet on water affairs here in New Mexican real time. More soon, but here's to the end of 2009, a strange year. And cheers to mayordomos, parciantes, and advocates around the state - salud!