Water democracies on the Upper Rio Grande, 1598-1998

Abstract

The acequia irrigation systems of northcentral New Mexico and southern Colorado are the oldest, continuously functioning water management institutions in the United States. For a period of four hundred years, 1598-1998, the acequias have sustained the agropastoral economies of the region while protecting the watershed resources on which downstream water stakeholders depend. The acequia customs of sharing and system of self-government provide a framework for sustainable resource use into the twenty-first century in a time of changing and often conflictive values. Continuance of these traditional institutions, however, depends on how successfully they adapt to the new realities of the emerging water markets in the region.

Parent Publication

• Rio Grande ecosystems: linking land, water, and people: Toward a sustainable future for the Middle Rio Grande Basin

Citation

Rivera, Jose A. 1999. Water democracies on the Upper Rio Grande, 1598-1998. In: Finch, Deborah M.; Whitney, Jeffrey C.; Kelly, Jeffrey, F.; Loftin, Samuel R. Rio Grande ecosystems: linking land, water, and people: Toward a sustainable future for the Middle Rio Grande Basin. 1998 June 2-5; Albuquerque, NM. Proc. RMRS-P-7. Ogden, UT: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. p. 20-28.