¡No Se Vende! Water as a Right of the Commons

Custom and tradition within the acequia (irrigation ditches) agricultural communities of New Mexico despite the law that assigns a priority date and implies ownership of water still govern the use of the water by mayordomos and commissions and repartimiento or water distribution and sharing is worked out among communities without state oversight. New Mexico communities have maintained--not preserved--their commons in ways that remain part of our everyday lives: parciantes irrigating crops and fi...See More