Commentary: Surviving a drought

Drought – nature’s reminder that water does not grow on trees.

Drought is the time when some form of government advice or regulation prescribes that we collectively choose to reduce our uses of water, usually because of some form of government advice or regulation. It is the time when

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Why Should You Plan for Water?

People at round tables in discussion

Who gets water when there isn’t enough? At a simplified level, the current “Priority Administration” regulations, if enforced when there isn’t enough water, would provide water to Nations/Tribes/Pueblos and other senior irrigators first, leaving very thirsty cities and towns. And with desperately thirsty cities and towns, the New Mexico economy would wither, taking down

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Water Rights … and Water Wrongs

While the rules about them are extremely complicated, “water rights” are simply your permission slip from the State to use water, if you can find it (often a big “if”).  ll too often people conflate paper water and wet water. The results can be seriously misleading or worse. 

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Pueblo Aboriginal Water Rights Affirmed

The Albuquerque Journal has published “Court ruling aids pueblo water rights” addressing an appeals court ruling affirming Pueblo water rights. When Spanish conquistadors established settlements in what is now New Mexico, they likely had no idea their actions would be cited centuries later in legal arguments over water rights. On Tuesday, the 10th Circuit Court…

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