Table of Contents
Where is acequias in New Mexico today?
There are currently between 600-700 community acequias in New Mexico. They are concentrated in the upper valleys around smaller rivers and watersheds. However, some acequias stem from larger rivers, including the San Juan, Rio Grande, Pecos and Rio Chama.
Where do acequias exist?
Particularly in Spain, the Andes, northern Mexico, and the modern-day American Southwest particularly northern New Mexico and southern Colorado, acequias are usually historically engineered canals that carry snow runoff or river water to distant fields.
What does the word acequia mean?
irrigation ditch
: an irrigation ditch or canal.
What is the purpose of acequia?
Acequias are irrigation canals designed to share water for agriculture in a dry land. The acequia system was once prevalent in the west and southwest; acequias are still used in northern New Mexico and southern Colorado.
Why is acequias important to NM?
During the Spanish and Mexican colonial period, acequias, which are canal-like structures used for irrigation, were often the first to be collectively constructed along with churches or homes. Growing food was so important that digging out the acequia to bring water to crops was a priority.
Who created acequias?
the Moors
Acequias evolved over 10,000 years in the deserts of the Middle East and were introduced into southern Spain by the Moors during their nearly 800-year occupation.
What year and where did acequias come to New Mexico?
They got to New Mexico in 1598 via the Spanish and the first ones were dug in what’s the community of “Chamita” now and that was the community of “San Gabriel de Yunque.” Anytime settlers came into an area the first thing they did was they dug the acequia and built a church.
Why is Acequias important to NM?
The acequias and other communal traditions in New Mexico demonstrate the positive values that permit us to embrace each other despite our fears and biases. We must build on those and root out those negative behaviors that limit our capacity to grow and give.
What is the acequia Madre the mother ditch?
Acequia, a Spanish word meaning “the water conduit,” refers to community operated watercourses used in Spain and Spanish colonies in the Americas for irrigation purposes.
Do acequias still exist today?
Acequias are the oldest water management institutions in the United States of European origin. These irrigation ditches, brought by the Spanish colonies, once supplied water to a large portion of the Southwestern United States. Today, around 800 acequias continue to feed the fields of Northern New Mexico!
Why are acequias important in New Mexico?
What region of Spain has the most acequias?
They came from Valencia, Spain where you still see the highest number of them… functioning acequias. They were brought from the Spanish who learned about them from the Moors. They brought the concept of acequia — even the word “noria” the word we use for well.