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

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...

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...