ABQjournal: Acequia Association Upset by Water Rights Auction:
SANTA FE— A Northern New Mexico irrigation ditch association fears that an auction of water rights by a private company threatens efforts to keep water rights attached to the traditional ditch system.
"Our view is that water is so essential to all life, it should not be viewed as a commodity," said Paula Garcia, executive director of the New Mexico Acequia Association. "And traditionally, water could not be severed from the land."
She said the water rights up for auction were established through generations of people who maintained irrigation ditches and used the water for farming and livestock, Garcia said.
"It is unthinkable to some traditional people that you could cash that out," she said.
Some people with generations-old water rights are selling and have hired WaterBank of Albuquerque to handle the sale.
Water buyers had until the end of business Friday to bid on irrigation rights in the Pojoaque and Española valleys, with the minimum bid set at $25,000 an acre-foot. An acre-foot, about 326,000 gallons, can meet the annual water needs of one to two U.S. households.
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