Acequia Commons and the Old-Timey Future

A modern example of decentralization

In our last podcast episode, we discussed forms of decentralization from going off the grid to Web 3. Decentralization has been an ongoing topic here at Our Uncertain Future and defining exactly what we mean by that can sometimes be challenging. I am still working on a phrase to encapsulate this trajectory and have temporarily landed on “old-timey future” to explain the intersection of the preindustrial world with future technologies that aid in forming smaller non-hierarchical and non-monopolized systems. I’m not quite sure “old-timey future” is going to stick. This phrase makes me think of early 21st century hipsters handcrafting beer and blacksmithing their own knives. Let me know if you have any better ideas.

Recently I had a realization that New Mexico has a unique tradition of decentralization that goes back centuries and continues to this day, acequias. Acequias are communal irrigation ditches that run throughout Northern New Mexico and parts of Southern Colorado. They generally branch off rivers into an Acequia Madre, or mother ditch, and then divide into smaller daughter streams across landowners’ properties, where they can be used to intermittently irrigate their fields or gardens.

Rio Pueblo and the south village of Taos Pueblo

HISTORY

There are similarly organized small-scale autonomous irrigation systems all over the world. These water distribution systems were the earliest form of democracy, delivering a common resource based on a sharing economy. New Mexico’s acequia system has its roots in the Islamic Iberian traditions, and it is theorized that it may have originated in Yemen. Acequias were brought over with the Spanish colonists to Mexico where they were influenced by Indigenous Mexican gardening traditions. This system then spread north with Spanish settlers arriving in New Mexico in the 16^th century when it was imposed on the Pueblo Indians.

Each settlement or placita was established near to an existing Indian Pueblo of which there were over 100 at that time (now there are 19). Each placita had their own acequia system. Since Catholicism was at the heart of Spanish colonialism, each placita had its own parish too and therefore each acequia had its own parish. In this way, acequias are historically tied to communal structures and institutions of community collaboration.

Within a few generations, acequias completely transformed the landscape, essentially greening New Mexico by extending riparian habitat.

GOVERNANCE

Acequias are not perceived to be owned by any one individual but instead a resource shared by the community. Acequias are a type of commons. A common is a natural resource that is managed by a community instead of a state or market through self-created governance for collective benefit. Commons were typical in Europe during pre-feudal times for farming and grazing.

Acequia commons are recognized under New Mexico law as local government entities or political subdivisions. All the owners of water rights along the acequia can participate in governing their neighborhood ditch. If you purchase land with an acequia, you must also purchase the water right or derecho to that property to be allowed to use the ditch. This will often make the land more expensive because an acequia makes the land more valuable.

When we lived in our mountain homestead we were on a river and had a small acequia running through our property that I used to water our large garden. Our ditch only had three properties on it, and we basically negotiated water use amongst the three of us. But most acequias have acequia communities that might operate under larger acequia associations.

While acequia communities vary in how they operate, in general, each community has a comisión or group of comisionados and a mayordomo or ditch manager. The comisión is a three-person committee elected by the parciantes, or water rights holders, and is responsible for certain decisions concerning the maintenance and operation of the acequia, such as regulating which parciantes can release water to their fields on which days. The mayordomo is the day-to-day caretaker of the acequia and the person who manages the irrigation system. Fair distribution of water is managed by the mayordomo and is directed by the comisión.

These localized forms of governance make it easy to ensure equality. All parciantes are given an equal vote and fair access to the water. There is no Prior Appropriation System (PAS), such as is used for water rights in neighboring Colorado. With PAS, the rule is "first in time, first in right." Basically, whoever was the first person to physically take water from a stream or underground aquifer and place that water to some type of use, became the senior water right holder and gets say over who and how others use that stream or aquifer. In Colorado, water rights are under the jurisdiction of the state water courts. PAS has led to the mass urbanization of the West and abuse of natural resources.

DECENTRALIZATION

With the acequia commons, everyone in the community directly participates with water usage because everyone is directly impacted by decisions that are made and how committees are run. There is not a faraway politician in a large white mansion making decisions that indirectly may affect us one day or representatives of tens of thousands of constituents hiding financial gain or personal agendas in multi-layered and difficult to comprehend legislations. Everything is local, transparent and direct. There is no place to hide. Not to say that finances can’t be embezzled in smaller communities, this certainly happens, but when it does, it is more easily found out and fixed.

When it is time to clean the acequias in the springtime, everyone participates in clearing the ditches of grasses and winter’s debris to the best of their ability. Homeowners along the acequias understand that upkeep of their section of acequia running through their property affects the flow of water to neighboring properties and to the community. When someone is unable to clean their ditch, perhaps an elder or single mother, others in the community step up to help.

This aspect of acequia ditches I find to be a particularly beautiful metaphor for community participation and care. It reminds me of the bumper sticker I used to have that said, “We all live downstream.” I always considered that bumper sticker as an environmental statement to mean that if you pollute the waters upstream with toxic dumping then everyone downstream will be affected. But now I see another meaning; if you don’t clean up your portion of the ditch then others downstream won’t get water to grow their food. Both versions entail a level of mutual respect and collaboration. Don’t dump in the water and keep your ditch clean because it affects everyone. Just as you would want the person upstream to do the same for you.

This seems like commonsense but unfortunately in a large global economy like we currently live in, we might not have any connection to those that live downstream from us. They might seem like an idea of a person (i.e.; factory worker, coal miner, polar bear, rainforest) but not someone tangible and real like our next-door neighbor. That is one of the reasons that larger systems of centralization fail us. People become distant concepts instead of real flesh and blood individuals with families, dreams and passions. When your neighbor is in proximity, you can see the hardships they are struggling with or the quality of their contribution to your life or your community. When they are in a far-off town or country, you must think long and hard to imagine what their lives might be like, there is an emotional distancing or compartmentalization that ultimately can cause harm.

WHAT NOW?

Interestingly, ecologists have discovered that irrigating with acequias recharges the aquifers, the groundwater that provides fresh drinking water for wells. In areas where acequias are no longer utilized, aquifers drop, decreasing and becoming more difficult to access. Surface water and groundwater are therefore connected. This is another interesting metaphor showing us how spreading and redistributing resources benefits all people, even indirectly.

For acequia commons to operate, there must be respect, trust, mutualism, cooperation and reciprocity, which is easier to accomplish when organizations are decentralized and autonomous. Moving into the future, what can we learn from these ancient systems? In what other ways can we replicate acequia systems in our own lives and communities?

I’d love to hear what you think. Please share below. Let’s continue the conversation.

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