Acequia Governance
The purpose of the Acequia Governance Project is to strengthen acequia governance through community education, technical assistance, and legal assistance. The New Mexico Acequia Association (NMAA) achieves this purpose through regional acequia governance workshops and customized technical and legal assistance with individual acequias at the local level on the following topics:
- Acequia Bylaws
- Regulation of Water Transfers
- Management and Operation of Acequia Water Banks
- Open Meetings Act Compliance
- Acequia Infrastructure Planning
The project is currently staffed with three technical assistance providers on bylaws, water rights, and mapping, one consultant on easements, and a subcontract for legal assistance. The NMAA has managed this project for the past three years through a Professional Services Contract with the Department of Finance and Administration, which has resulted in the creation of an Acequia Governance Handbook, the adoption or update of over 200 sets of acequia bylaws, and the completion of over 60 acequia infrastructure capital improvement plans.
The Acequia Governance Handbook is the result of a collective effort on the part of many acequia parciantes and supporters with expertise in acequias, water rights, and local governance. It is also a work in progress.
The themes identified as sections in the Handbook resulted from acequia meetings around New Mexico. Our acequia community meetings are participatory with everyone sharing some part of their knowledge about acequias. Since 2002, over fifty regional meetings, workshops, and listening sessions were held in addition to hundreds of individual acequia meetings during which NMAA staff and volunteers learned and shared vital information about acequia governance. The current version of the Acequia Governance Handbook contains the some of the key areas that are of interest to parciantes based on the information shared at our many meetings. A revised version is forthcoming which will include more information about acequia history, customs and traditions, and current issues facing acequias.
For more information about this project, contact Kenny Salazar at kenny@lasacequias.org or Janice Varela at organizer@lasacequias.org. If you need legal assistance, contact New Mexico Legal Aid at 1-800-373-9881 or at davidb@nmlegalaid.org.
This section contains the Acequia Governance Handbook including the following:
Handbook Introduction
Fact Sheet - Open Meetings Act Compliance
Fact Sheet - Acequia Enforcement Procedures
Fact Sheet - Acequia Easements