Water for the People: The Acequia Heritage of New Mexico in a Global Context

by Enrique R. Lamadrid (Editor), José A. Rivera (Editor)

Overview

Winner of the Historical Society of New Mexico Fray Francisco Atanasio Domínguez Award

Winner of the 2024 New Mexico-Arizona Book Award for History Anthology

Water for the People features twenty-five essays by world-renowned acequia scholars and community members that highlight acequia culture, use, and history in New Mexico, northern Mexico, Chile, Peru, Argentina, Spain, the Middle East, Nepal, and the Philippines, situating New Mexico’s acequia heritage and its inherent sustainable design within a global framework. The lush landscapes of the upper Río Grande watershed created by acequias dating from as far back as the late sixteenth century continue to irrigate their communities today despite threats of prolonged drought, urbanization, private water markets, extreme water scarcity, and climate change. Water for the People celebrates acequia practices and traditions worldwide and shows how these ancient irrigation systems continue to provide arid regions with a model for water governance, sustainable food systems, and community traditions that reaffirm a deep cultural and spiritual relationship with the land year after year.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780826364647
Publisher:	University of New Mexico Press
Publication date:	04/01/2023
Series:	New Century Gardens and Landscapes of the American Southwest
Sold by:	SIMON & SCHUSTER
Format:	eBook
Pages:	272
File size:	40 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Enrique R. Lamadrid is a distinguished professor emeritus of Spanish at the University of New Mexico. He is the editor of the Querencias Series at the University of New Mexico Press.

José A. Rivera is professor emeritus of community and regional planning at the University of New Mexico. He is the author of Acequia Culture: Water, Land, and Community in the Southwest (UNM Press).

Table of Contents

Preface
Introduction
José A. Rivera and Enrique R. Lamadrid
Bendición del agua
Olivia Ramona Romo

I. Acequias of Nuevo México
Chapter 1. Río Grande Acequias: Historic Working Landscapes
Luis Pablo Martínez Sanmartín, Thomas F. Glick, and José A. Rivera
Chapter 2. A Bird's-Eye View of Northern New Mexico's Acequias
Alejandro López
Chapter 3. Acequia Waters: Community Resource or Commodity?
Paula García and Miguel Santistevan
Chapter 4. Framing the Spring Ritual of la Limpia
Donatella Davanzo
Chapter 5. The Waterfall Acequias of the Mora Valley
Enrique R. Lamadrid and Juan Estevan Arellano
Chapter 6. Transbasin Diversion in the Forest Wilderness: Oral History Testimony Protects the Acequia Bordo
José A. Rivera
Chapter 7. Valdez: Acequia, Placita, Merced
Sylvia Rodríguez
Chapter 8. La Bajada Village's Acequia Landscapes
Arnold Valdez
Chapter 9. Cultivating a Sensible Food System
Miguel Santistevan
Chapter 10. Acequias as a Sustainable Model for Hydro-Ecology
Quita Ortiz
Chapter 11. Conservation in the Conservancy District: Keeping the Valley Green with Acequias and Adaptation
Yasmeen Najmi

II. España y México: Patrimonios Ancestrales
Chapter 12. Valencia and New Mexico's Hermanamiento Ceremony: A Personal Perspective
Don Bustos
Chapter 13. Safeguarding the Global Cultural Heritage of Community Acequias
Luis Pablo Martínez Sanmartín
Chapter 14. Heritage Acequias of Spain: The Millennial Huerta of Murcia and the Río Segura Valley
Armando J. Lamadrid
Chapter 15. El Palmeral de Elche: Acequia Management and Oasis Survival in the Twenty-First Century
Carlos Ortiz Mayordomo and Lina Gracia i Vicente
Chapter 16. Bounty of the Columbian Exchange
Enrique R. Lamadrid and Armando J. Lamadrid
Chapter 17. Tlaxcala and Aranjuez: Keystone Gardens of the Columbian Exchange
Enrique R. Lamadrid and Armando J. Lamadrid
Chapter 18. Valle de Allende and Aldama: Roots of Acequia Culture in Northern México
Enrique R. Lamadrid

III. Nuevo México y el Mundo
Chapter 19. Land and Water in the Middle East: The Yemen Connection
Juan Estevan Arellano and Enrique R. Lamadrid
Chapter 20. Traditional Communal Irrigation: Historical Lineage from Persia to New Mexico
R. Jack Meyers
Chapter 21. Climate Calamity and High-Mountain Glacier Irrigation in Nepal and Perú
Armando J. Lamadrid
Chapter 22. The Zanjeras: Community Irrigation in the Philippines
José A. Rivera
Chapter 23. Acequias of Chile: A Permanent Stronghold in Times of Change
José Luis Arumí and Ovidio Alejandro Melo
Chapter 24. Looking to the Past for Solutions for the Future: A Comparative Study of the Acequias of Two High-Desert Cities
Andrew Bernard

Epilogue: In Defense of Water, Agriculture, and People
Enrique R. Lamadrid and José A. Rivera

Contributors
Index

Editorial Reviews

"Water for the People shows how acequia community organization and activism paired with traditions and culture are a powerful framework to adapt to worldwide climatic and social changes."—Carlos G. Ochoa, associate professor of ecohydrology and watershed and riparian systems management, Oregon State University

"Editors Enrique Lamadrid and José Rivera have assembled in this beautifully illustrated volume the most fascinating account to date of the remarkably durable acequia and the lessons it offers in careful water management for a hotter and drier world than we have known. We should all pay attention."—Baker H. Morrow, author of Best Plants for New Mexico Gardens and Landscapes: Keyed to Cities and Regions in New Mexico and Adjacent Areas, Revised and Expanded Edition

"Editors Enrique Lamadrid and José Rivera have assembled in this beautifully illustrated volume the most fascinating account to date of the remarkably durable acequia and the lessons it offers in careful water management for a hotter and drier world than we have known. We should all pay attention."—Baker H. Morrow, author of Best Plants for New Mexico Gardens and Landscapes: Keyed to Cities and Regions in New Mexico and Adjacent Areas, Revised and Expanded Edition

From the Publisher