Officials report at least 30 NM acequias suffered millions in damage in recent floods

Acequias pushing for county, state disaster declaration
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By PATRICK LOHMANN
Courtesy of Source NM

Left: In a recent picture, Javier Martinez, commission president of the Distrito Community Ditch acequia, stands knee-deep in silt where the acequia once ran. Right: A dog runs along a nearby acequia that also was damaged. The acequias are among at least 36 in Northern New Mexico that suffered at least some damage in recent storms, according to the New Mexico Acequia Association. (Photos courtesy Mykel Diaz and Serfina Lombardi)

Rainstorms last month in Northern New Mexico damaged several dozen acequias, many of them severely, according to an advocacy group concerned that without state or federal help, farmers who rely on the ancient irrigation canals will lose at least two growing seasons.
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At least 36 acequias in Taos, Rio Arriba and Santa Fe counties sustained damage in three storms last month, according to Vidal Gonzales, policy and planning director for the New Mexico Acequia Association. He told Source New Mexico on Tuesday evening that most of the damage came from two storms Aug. 25 and Aug. 29. 

All told, 19 acequias in the Chimayó area, along with six near Pojoaque and 11 others near Ojo Caliente, sustained several millions of dollars in damage in the powerful rainstorms, he said. 

The storms created floods that poured into the channels, generating enough pressure to crack metal headgates. Debris flows elsewhere left acequias full of silt that will have to be dug out before they can flow again, he said. Others may have to be rebuilt, he said.

“Some of them got blown out just from such a high-intensity rain event in such a short amount of time,” Gonzales said, who shared pictures of the damage. 

Acequias leaders, known as mayordomos, have shared damage assessments with the Acequia Association in recent days, as the organization begins advocating for county or state disaster declarations that would unlock some funding, Gonzales said. The group hopes to compile all that information for Rio Arriba and Santa Fe county officials this week, he said. 

But even if Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham were to approve a state declaration, which would mean at least $750,000, Gonzales said he’s unsure where the rest of the money will come from. 

While a federal disaster declaration could provide needed individual assistance and help to public entities like acequas, “I don’t see that happening with this administration,” Gonzales said.

Other federal agencies, like the Emergency Watershed Protection Program or the Natural Resources Conservation Service, are short-staffed and overwhelmed, he said, with other disaster projects and spending cuts. And state funds the Legislature passed specifically for acequias earlier this year have already been allocated, primarily to small projects or engineering and design. 

Gonzales attributes the severity of the floods to human-caused climate change, he said, along with longstanding watershed degradation that will require a multi-faceted approach to address. 

“We’re really between a rock and a hard place here in New Mexico with all these disasters and climate change and everything affecting us,” he said. ​

Jason Rodriquez of the New Mexico Acequia Association took this picture of the impacts of the rainstorm on the area near the Distrito and Acequia de los Martinez Arriba on Friday, Sept. 12, during a tour with Santa Fe County officials. (Photo courtesy Jason Rodriquez)

The storms mark just the latest natural event to damage the historic irrigation canals, which are largely unique to New Mexico. The association earlier this year estimated that150 acequias were damaged due to recent wildfires, particularly due to post-fire flooding, in northern and southern New Mexico. 
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The Legislature in recent years has approved more than $100 million in disaster loans, including for specific acequias, to help them start recovering, but they often face bureaucratic challenges, including becoming designated public entities eligible for federal or state disaster assistance. 

Mykel Diaz, mayordomo of the Acequia de los Martinez Arriba near Chimayó, told Source that he’s already encountered some of those challenges for his acequia, because it runs over the boundary of Santa Fe and Rio Arriba counties. That’s making the damage assessment difficult, he said, along with other hurdles.

He told Source that the flood damage has affected basically the entire Santa Cruz River Valley, including several major acequias. His acequia has slightly over 100 users — or parciantes — he said, and the Distrito Community Ditch nearby has about 200.
Both suffered severe damage that will cost tens of thousands of dollars, at least, he said. 

The acequia Diaz oversees lost basically an entire mile-long stretch due to 20 “avalanches” that dumped into it during the Aug. 29 storm, he said. For acequias that have been in that area for several hundred years, seeing one storm wipe so much out demonstrates “the fragility of the system,” he said. 

“It just took one epic rainstorm that put two inches of rain in like an hour,” he said, “and took us out.”

Diaz’s acequia has some money to at least begin digging out, he said, which is a rarity among acequias. But he’ll need to convince parciantes to approve moving $10,000 they recently approved for a new diversion project toward recovering from the disaster. 

“If we don’t re-allocate that money, then we’re not going to have any water to divert,” she said. “It’ll be a futile project.”

For other required spending, Diaz said he just hopes that the acequia will somehow be reimbursed for the “freak of nature” storm. 

“Mother Nature really gave it to us that day,” he said. ​