Acequias in New Mexico: Sharing Water in a Dry Land (Santa Fe: 2015, neighborhood)

[clairz]

I just did some research on the acequia system for my blog; I hope that you will find it of interest. I am also hoping that people with some firsthand acequia experience will add comments and stories to this thread.

~clairz


The acequias of New Mexico are communal irrigation canals; a way to share water for agriculture in a dry land. Their history stretches back over 400 years to when Spanish laws were applied to the irrigation systems that had been hand dug by the native Americans for perhaps hundreds of years before that. The system is a way to give equal shares of water to users in both wet and dry years.

Acequia associations, led by the mayordomo (the ditch boss, or overseer), were often considered "the first governmental entities of their communities (http://www.periodistacostilla.org/stories/acequiashare.html - broken link)."

In New Mexico, by state statute, acequias as registered bodies must have three commissioners and a mayordomo. Irrigation and conservation districts typically have their own version of mayordomos, usually referred to as "ditch riders" by members of the districts. (From Ask.com, definition of acequia)

The main canal, called the mother ditch, is dug starting at the river, and flows gently downhill from there, with a series of smaller ditches, or laterals, bringing water to specific fields. If you click on the illustration at the top left, from The Mother Ditch, by Oliver LaFarge (1954), you will see how a series of gates and some judicious moves with hand-held hoes direct the flowing water right to the individual plants and trees.

As we walk around our new neighborhood, we see ditches, large and small, all around the pecan orchards and chile fields. I've seen the truck from the irrigation district coming around in the middle of the night; I can make out the man in his headlights, turning the wheels that raise the gates to let the water into the waiting canal. I hope to figure out the schedule so that I can take some photos of our local ditches when they are full.



Resources:

Answers.com: Definition and historical background for "acequia"

An Irrigation Ditch Runs Through It, by Peter Fish for Sunset Magazine, 1997. This article discusses Stanley Crawford, who moved to northern New Mexico and eventually became the mayordomo of his acequia association, writing about his experiences in farming and community in his classic book, Mayordomo (http://www.unmpress.com/Book.php?id=1161 - broken link), winner of the 1988 Western States Book Award fro Creative Nonfiction.

The Mother Ditch, by Oliver LaFarge (1954). Originally written as a children's book, LaFarge's work is rich in detail about the working of the acequia system in both good and bad water years. I am lucky enough to have an old copy that was being discarded from a library years ago.

New Mexico Acequia Association (Official Website and Blog). Did you know that there is even a radio program "exploring the richness of the acequia culture?"

Will Impending State Regulations Undermine Local Acequia Management? (http://www.periodistacostilla.org/stories/acequiashare.html - broken link) Article by Katey Byrd, written for Periodistacostilla.org.

[Poncho_NM]

Interesting.

I have some pictures of acequias I took in a few places... I had noticed some are registered and I have watched them open gates at others.


Rich

[jiminnm]

The Culture and the Water: Water

[lalahartma]

Thanks! I'll take some time later to read up on all this!

[Santa Fe]

Do you want to hear the downside of acequias? Here in Nambe they damn up the river and run the entire flow through the acequias year around. The river is bone dry even now when nobody is possibly irrigating. Headgates are just left opem year round or have been removed. So if you want to take a picture of a full ditch, come here.

People regard the acequias as ever flowing streams on their property and even advertise them as such when the property is sold.

[tecpatl]

A Mesilla lateral flowing in April, with the lovely and talented Mrs Tecpatl walking alongside.
We don't have some of the regulation problems of some Northern areas, as everything here is controled by EBID (Elephant Butte Irrigation District) and patrolled by their ditch riders. We get notices as to when we can open our floodgate, and you better not be caught cheating (though it does happen).

[Santa Fe]

Originally Posted by tecpatl

A Mesilla lateral flowing in April, with the lovely and talented Mrs Tecpatl walking alongside.
We don't have some of the regulation problems of some Northern areas, as everything here is controled by EBID (Elephant Butte Irrigation District) and patrolled by their ditch riders. We get notices as to when we can open our floodgate, and you better not be caught cheating (though it does happen).

I am glad to hear that. Up here the cheating is so open.

[Joey Saint]

This gives me a new meaning and picture as to the depth of importance of the ditches in the beautiful New Mexican film "The Milagro Beanfield War". I hope that co-operative spirit remains. Thanks for the insightful post.

[jaxart]

Originally Posted by tecpatl

A Mesilla lateral flowing in April, with the lovely and talented Mrs Tecpatl walking alongside.

You know, I've never once heard anyone in the "valley" refer to them as anything other than "irrigation" and "drainage" ditches.

Whereas I've never heard these same ditches referred to as anything but "acequias" in the Santa Fe area.

[GregW]

I believe Western Water Law is there to admire, inspire and confuse.