thumb|Potrero Ditch, an acequia, passing near the front of [[El Santuario de Chimayo, New Mexico]]
An acequia () or (, 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.
Etymology
thumb|Main acequia, Vallongas, [[Elche, Valencia, Spain (May 2012)]]
The Spanish word (and the Catalan word ) originate from Arabic word al-sāqiyah () which has more than one meaning: "the water conduit" or "one that bears water" as well as 'bartender' (from , "to give water, drink"), and also refers to a type of water wheel.
History
Traditionally, the Spanish acequias have been associated with the Muslim colonization of the Iberian Peninsula; however the most likely hypothesis is that they improved on irrigation systems that already existed since Roman times, or even before. These ways of agricultural planning and colonization strategies come from the vast amount of cultural influences contributing to Spanish technology and governance. Likely the most meaningful stemmed from the Muslims that ruled parts of Spain for as long as eight centuries. Their ways of life influenced the Spanish and changed the way agriculture was done in Spain.
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 Huarpes 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.
thumb|The [[Acequia Madre (Santa Fe)|Acequia Madre (Mother Ditch), Santa Fe, New Mexico, June 2022]]
Usage in the American Southwest
The earliest known irrigation canals in the United States date back to 1200 BCE. The Hohokam of Arizona built large irrigation canals beginning about 800 CE.
By the year 1400 CE, the Pueblo Indians in New Mexico were using canals and ditches to irrigate their crops. With their arrival in New Mexico in 1598, the Spanish colonizers introduced their system of water management. The governance of these acequias is the oldest style of European resource management still active in the United States today.
Design
Acequias are gravity chutes, similar in concept to flumes. Some acequias are conveyed through pipes or aqueducts, of modern fabrication or decades or centuries old (see transvasement). For the system to function properly the channel must have a good gradient to maintain the flow of water.
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.
Water disputes and acequias
An example of the disputes over allocation of scarce water is the continuing controversy over acequias diverting water from Embudo Creek to the Mora River in New Mexico. Settlers along the Mora River on the eastern side of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains constructed gravity-fed irrigation ditches (acequias) to divert water from three headwaters sources of the Rio Pueblo to the Mora River. (The Rio Pueblo is an upstream tributary of Embudo Creek and not the same as the Rio Pueblo de Taos) The first diversion of water from Alamitos Creek was built about 1820; the second diversion from the Rito de la Presa was built in 1864; and the third and largest diversion was from the Rito Angostura. This diversion via acequias took 20 families three years to construct from 1879 to 1882. The acequia was long and "constructed without the benefit of sophisticated tools and engineering know-how, accomplishing the seemingly impossible task" of bringing water from one side of the mountains to the other. In drought years as much as one-half of the water of the Rio Pueblo is diverted to the Mora River. In 2021, that water irrigated about of agricultural land owned by 143 users.
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.