Acequias face challenges, uncertain future – By Ollie Reed Jr (Albuquerque Journal) / Nov 27, 2022
Copyright © 2022 Albuquerque Journal
More than 600 acequias, irrigation ditches that are the umbilical cords of New Mexico’s rural-agricultural lifestyle, coil throughout the state.
This year, wildfires and/or flooding choked off 70 of those ditches, threatening irrigation in the areas served by them next year and maybe for years to come and, in the most intensely damaged sections, putting in peril a way of life that dates back hundreds of years.
Paula Garcia, executive director of the nonprofit New Mexico Acequia Association (NMAA), is optimistic that determination combined with state and federal resources can make the damaged ditches vital again. But she is haunted by the fear that fire and flood may have altered things forever.
“It is very jarring to go through a wildfire,” said Garcia, who, with her family, tends a small-scale cattle ranch and traditional vegetable gardens in Mora, which was at the heart of the 341,735-acre Calf Canyon/Hermits Peak Fire.
