New Mexico Acequias

Organization: Acequia de la Jara
Project Leader: Stanley Crawford
Geographic Area: United States, Northern New Mexico
Link: www.hcn.org/servlets/hcn.Article?article_id=4516

For the last 400 years, New Mexico has enjoyed a highly decentralized system of water management that runs thanks to leadership from local landowners. These acequias (irrigation ditches and the association of members organized around them) bind local farmers to their Spanish and Native American predecessors, and also to each other. Seventy to eighty percent of New Mexico's surface water is controlled by about 1000 such ditch-associations; some have only a handful of members, while others have over 100.

Managing an acequia is participatory democracy in its purest sense. Each landowner has one vote, regardless of the size of his or her property. Votes are cast to elect three commissioners and a mayordomo. The commissioners set policy and the mayordomo (who is paid a monthly salary during irrigation season) carries it out day to day. For example, if a ditch breaks, the mayordomo calls people together to fix it. During a drought, she or he can tell people to reduce consumption. The mayordomo also keeps the ditches clean, and mediates disputes.

Despite a good track record over the past 400 years, the future of acequias may be in jeopardy as markets for water develop and governments intervene. Prices have risen as high as $50,000 per acre-foot, tempting some acequia members, especially those in financial trouble. But if these members sell out, they endanger the entire association. In recent years, the federal government and environmental groups have also pushed legislation mandating that water must flow continuously in rivers. This would secure fish habitats and urban needs like swimming pools, lush lawns on desert land, and car washes. However, it would also cause the amount of irrigated acreage to drop, threatening acequia way of life.