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An acequia () or italic=no (, also known as síquia , all from ) is a community-operated watercourse used in Spain and former Spanish colonies in the Americas for irrigation. Acequias are found in parts of Spain and the Andes, northern Mexico, and what is now the Southwestern United States (New Mexico and Colorado).
In the United States, the oldest known irrigation canals are found throughout the historical region of Nuevo México and date back to 1200 BCE. Irrigation was extensively used by the Pueblo peoples in Oasisamerica in the Pre-Columbian era. In 1598, Hispanos of New Mexico arrived and brought irrigation methods from Europe. This created a very distinctive indigenous and Hispanic tradition of irrigation and agriculture.
Scholars describe acequias as "technological systems that are designed, maintained, and operated to meet a variety of productive goals, social services, and health needs, with the practice of irrigated agriculture being of paramount importance." The traditional form of governance over acequias survives in New Mexico and southern Colorado and is the oldest form of European resource management still alive in the United States today.
Acequias are filled by snow melt and rain to water orchards, gardens, and other agricultural fields. Other than watering crops, acequias have deep cultural significance for many Indigenous and Native communities in New Mexico and Colorado.
Acequias were later adopted by the Spanish and Portuguese (levadas on Madeira Island) and were utilized throughout their own colonies. Similar structures already existed in places such as Mendoza and San Juan, Argentina where acequias today run along both sides of the city streets. However, these acequias were originally dug by the Indigenous Huarpe people long before the arrival of the Spanish. The introduction of acequias by the Muslims allowed for more agricultural diversity, with crops such as sugar cane and citrus fruits introduced. The system of the acequia has changed over time to avoid incidents of the resource from being overused or under-maintained.
When rainfall and snowmelt start to flow it is carried into the Acequia Madre and through the connecting channels throughout parts of New Mexico. Acequias have several components that control the transport of water:
Researchers affiliated with the Rio Grande Bioregions Project at Colorado College initiated a pioneering collaborative, farmer-led, and interdisciplinary study of Colorado and New Mexico acequias in 1995–99. Among the most significant findings of this study was that the acequia farms provide vital ecosystem and economic base services to the regions in which they are located. One study, as reported in , found that acequia agroecosystems promote soil conservation and soil formation, provide terrestrial wildlife habitat and movement corridors. They also protect water quality and fish habitat, promote the conservation of domesticated biodiversity of land race heirloom crops, and encourage the maintenance of a strong land and water ethic and sense of place, among other ecological and economic base values. This pioneering research on acequia ecosystem services, led by environmental anthropologist Devon G. Peña, has more recently been confirmed in other studies, e.g. , , , .
Acequias in New Mexico and Colorado have successfully developed and implemented changes in state water laws to accommodate the unique norms, customs, and practices of the acequia systems. But the communal owners of the acequias in New Mexico are receiving hard economic pushes from land developers and current inflation that are pushing them to consider selling the valued acequia. The customary law of the acequia is older than and at variance with the Doctrine of Prior Appropriation, and the statutes promulgating acequia water law represent a rare instance of water pluralism in the context of Western water law in the United States (see ). For example, the Doctrine of Prior Appropriation is based on the principle of "first in use, first in right", while acequia norms incorporate not just priority but principles of equity and fairness. This is evident in the fact that Prior Appropriation considers water to be a commodity owned by private individuals while acequia systems treat water as a community resource that irrigators have a shared right to use, manage, and protect. The concept of a shared responsibility natural resources reflects the beliefs stemming from the Spanish and Indigenous people who brought the acequia to the U.S. The plethora of cultural behaviors and values that created acequia communities still exist in the United States.
While prior doctrines allow for water to be sold away from the basin of origin, the acequia system prohibits the transference of water from the watershed in which it is situated and thus considers water as an "asset-in-place". The Prior regime is based on a governance regime in which the members of a mutual ditch company will vote based on their proportional ownership of shares so that larger farmers have more votes. In contrast, the acequia system follows a "one farmer, one vote" system that has led researchers to consider this a form of "water democracy".
Acequia law also requires that all persons with irrigation rights participate in the annual maintenance of the community ditch including the annual spring time ditch cleanup known as the limpieza y saca de acequia.
The transfer of water was controversial. The Picuris Pueblo contested the diversion of water from their territory to the Mora River as early as the 1860s and pursued a lawsuit against the diversions of water in the 1880s. The suit was dismissed as no attorney would take the case. Disputes about water continued into the 21st century. In 2021, unidentified persons blocked the acequia directing water from Alamitos Creek with a mound of rocks and interrupted the flow of water to Mora Country. The blockage was quickly removed, but the dispute over water rights continued.
File:La Canova Acequia North.jpg|Concrete-lined portion of ''La Canova'' ''acequia'', near Velarde, New Mexico
File:Los Chicos Acequia.jpg|Unlined portion of ''Los Chicos acequia'', near Velarde, [[New Mexico]]
File:Near the intersection of the Los Padillas Drain and Putnam Drain in South Valley New Mexico. The Manzano Mountains are visible in the distance.jpg|Near the intersection of the ''Los Padillas'' Drain and Putnam Drain in South Valley, New Mexico
File:Compuerta and historic acequia (c5cab24d-3c05-4f91-81f2-b1a8a17445cd).JPG|A section of a compuerta (holding area) and historic acequia in Tumacacori National Historical Park, Santa Cruz County, Arizona The trail beyond the compuerta is the original route of the acequia.
File:Acequia Madre de Valero historical marker.jpg|Acequia Madre de Valero historical marker
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