NEW MEXICO ACEQUIAS IN VALENCIA:
A Documentary Report

June 2022

In 2014 and 2019 the New Mexico Acequia Association attended events organized by the Water Tribunal of Valencia in  Spain commemorating the fifth and tenth anniversaries when the acequias of Valencia and Murcia were listed by UNESCO as examples of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. This documentary report provides the context for and significance of the two visits along with a series of photographs that tell the story for the benefit of the citizens of New Mexico.

By José A. Rivera, Ph.D.
Research Scholar, Center for Regional Studies
University of New Mexico

Acequias of the Southwestern United States: Elements of Resilience in a Coupled Natural and Human System

November 2020
AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION • RESEARCH REPORT 796

“Because of their awareness of the multiple values of their treasured acequias and their commitment to the research, dissemination, and preservation of knowledge, especially in cooperation with committed scholars such as the ones that made this book possible, the New Mexican traditional irrigators—the parciantes—are a leading example among traditional irrigators worldwide.”

Luis Pablo Martínez Sanmartín
Historian and Anthropologist
València, Spain, September 26, 2020

While serving as Research Associate for the Center for Regional Studies, Dr. José Rivera directed a subaward that supported faculty and graduate student research projects as part of a New Mexico State University and University of New Mexico collaborated research study of acequia communities in New Mexico. The Agricultural Experiment Station at NMSU has released this Research Report that resulted from the NSF funded study.