What is a Acequia Madre?
What is a Acequia Madre?
The Acequia Madre, in Las Vegas, New Mexico, is a historic acequia which was built at the time of Las Vegas’ settlement in 1835–36. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1987. It runs from the Gallinas River to the approximate intersection of S. Pacific and U.S. Route 85 in Las Vegas.
Who manages the acequia Madre*?
Few recognizable traces of these acequias remain, but the Acequia Madre has never ceased to flow, and it is still governed by the old Spanish laws, with a mayordomo de la acequia and three commissioners to supervise its upkeep.
What are the Reparto meetings for?
«Reparto» meetings are where the people get together in a meeting led by the Mayordormo. These meetings talk about the distribution of water to everyone, who is going to be irrigated first at a certain time of day, and they discuss how much water each person would get.
Why were acequias essential to the survival of the early villages in northern New Mexico?
They built acequias—communal irrigation systems—not only to sustain an agricultural lifestyle, but also to caress and sustain the Earth and its natural creatures. Spanish colonizers took acequias to the New World.
What is the purpose of acequia?
Acequias are irrigation canals designed to share water for agriculture in a dry land. The acequia system was once prevalent in the west and southwest; acequias are still used in northern New Mexico and southern Colorado.
What is the leader of the acequia called?
An acequia is managed by a ditch boss, or mayordomo, a word of clearly Latin origins, and three comisionados, or commissioners, all elected by the landowning members of the acequia.
What is the leader of the Acequia called?
How do you pronounce the word Acequia?
noun, plural a·ce·quias [uh-sey-kyuhz; Spanish ah-se-kyahs].
Where did acequia originate?
The concept of the acequia is ancient. It comes from the Middle East, from Syria and in Northern Africa. You see them anywhere there in the Arab regions. It is a way of managing water in arid states, in arid environments where water is precious.
Who is in charge of an acequia?
In most villages, the acequia association, made up of three elected ditch commissioners, a mayordomo [superintendent or «ditch boss»], and the parciantes [irrigators] themselves, is the only form of local government at the subcounty level.
What is the purpose of an acequia?
What does the word acequia mean?
irrigation ditch
: an irrigation ditch or canal.