Click here to download the handbook. Here’s an excerpt:
This handbook is a joint effort of the Sangre de Cristo Acequia Association, the Getches-Wilkinson Center for Natural Resources, Energy, and the Environment at the University of Colorado Law School, Colorado Open Lands, and dedicated private attorneys. The handbook was inspired by the New Mexico Acequia Association’s Acequia Governance Handbook, which served as a wonderful model.
The handbook represents the work of law student volunteers at the University of Colorado Law School, with supervision and guidance from Colorado law professors and attorneys.
The country’s second largest potato producing region, is in its 18th year of drought in 2020. The San Luis Valley in Colorado is known for its agriculture yet only has 6-7 inches of rainfall per year. San Luis People’s Ditch
Water from acequias, a shared collection of gravity-fed irrigation ditches have been a historical part of irrigation in the San Luis Valley. Acequia San Antonio via Judy Gallegos
Acequia del Cerro, San Luis
San Pedro Acequia. The headgate of the second oldest acequia in Colorado. Photo by Devon G. Peña
An acequia along the Las Trampas in northern New Mexico is suspended on a trestle. (Eddie Moore/Albuquerque Journal)
Fig. 2. Mexican Land Grants in Colorado and New Mexico. The Baumann map depicted here mislabels these Mexican land grants as “Spanish”. Source: Paul R. Baumann 2001. SUNY-Oneonta.
Acequia cleaning prior to running the first water of the season