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“… a crystal clear river full of small but choice trout.”- Señor Don Pedro Alonso O’Crouley
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Today, most of Santa Fe’s acequias are gone; destroyed by a lack of water, modern infrastructure, and development. There are four functioning acequias and communities in modern Santa Fe that irrigate approximately 100 acres of mostly hay and orchards: Acequia Madre, Acequia Cerro Gordo, Acequia del Llano, and Acequia Muralla. Two ditches receive allocations of water due to a 1990 lawsuit and subsequent judgment for the associations, where the First Judicial District Court of New Mexico found in favor of the acequias, calling them “our greatest pride.” Old-timers recount stories of swimming in and ice skating on the river, farming in the fields, cleaning ditches, and harvesting together as a community. The legacy of acequias also remains in the city streets, as many modern roads began as footpaths along them. Santa Fe’s layout has often been described as a plate of spaghetti, reflecting on its origin of unlined ditches winding through the valley, delivering water to fields of corn and beans. As Santa Fe manages their water resources for today and for future decades, it is important to reflect on the acequia institution, which for almost 400 years, provided not only sustenance for the City, but a sense of place for its inhabitants and a connection to the land and to each other. For more information about the history of Santa Fe’s water resources, reference the second edition of David Grant Noble’s Santa Fe: History of an Ancient City (School for Advanced Research Press, 2008).
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Tara M. Plewa is a PhD student in Geography at the University of South Carolina, specializing in fluvial geomorphology, Geographic Information Systems (GIS), watershed science, and water policy and law. She is currently finishing her dissertation entitled “A Trickle Runs Through It: An Environmental History of the Santa Fe River, NM”. Contact: 803-806-4407,