JUDICIAL DEVELOPMENTS

November 2007

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New Mexico District Court Orders De Novo Appeal in Northern New Mexico Acequia Lawsuits Challenging Acequias’ Authority to Deny Water Transfers
Peña Blanca Partnership v. San Jose de Hernandez Community Ditch and Cook v. La Acequia del Gavilan

On October 10, 2007, Judge Daniel A. Sanchez of the First District Court of New Mexico issued an amended order in two related water rights transfer cases: Peña Blanca Partnership v. San Jose de Hernandez Community Ditch and Cook v. La Acequia del Gavilan in which he declined to reach the constitutionality of a state law enacted in 2003 granting acequia associations the power to deny water rights transfers. Acequias are centuries old systems of community—based water management and distribution. In New Mexico, there are over a thousand acequias; they are at the center of Pueblo and Hispanic culture. The term “acequia” has a two-fold reference. The term “acequia” means an irrigation ditch. The term is also used to describe the community of irrigators that work together to maintain the ditch systems that support local traditional agriculture.