Acequias · New Mexico · Fieldguide

Upper Hondo Acequia Association

1,017 ditches the state has mapped in this region, 136 of them named · Chaves, Lincoln, Otero Counties.

Ditch (1,017)Adjudication area

What this page is, and is not

Every line and point here is a feature the Office of the State Engineer publishes, placed inside this region by its own geometry — nothing is drawn or assigned by hand. The state maps 1,017 ditches here and names 136 of them. That is a count of what one dataset records, not a count of how many acequias run in this valley — the OSE's named-acequia layer covers some regions richly and others barely at all. Where this page is thin, the valley is not.

Notices on this desk

Mora County: two acequias are fighting a state cut to their irrigation water

Las Acequias de Cañoncito y Encinal say the Office of the State Engineer ordered their headgate closed and set a valley-wide water allowance well below what their own hydrologist found the land needs.

Mora County

Read →

Water here today (9 gages)

Active USGS streamgages within this region's bounding box — near these acequias, though not necessarily on them.

River

1.69 cfs

Rio Ruidoso At Ruidoso, Nm

Read Sep 1, 10:50 AM MT

River

6.93 cfs

Rio Ruidoso At Hollywood, Nm

Read Sep 1, 10:40 AM MT

River

1.01 cfs

North Fork Eagle Creek Near Alto, Nm

Read Sep 1, 10:40 AM MT

River

0.09 cfs

Eagle Creek Below South Fork Near Alto, Nm

Read Sep 1, 10:40 AM MT

River

0.00 cfs

Rio Bonito Near Lincoln, Nm

Read Sep 1, 10:40 AM MT

River

0.00 cfs

Rio Hondo At Diamond A Ranch Nr Roswell, Nm

Read Sep 1, 10:20 AM MT

River

0.00 cfs

Rio Hondo Blw Diamond A Dam Nr Roswell, Nm

Read Sep 1, 10:00 AM MT

River

0.00 cfs

Rocky Arroyo Blw Rocky Dam, Nm

Read Sep 1, 10:45 AM MT

River

0.68 cfs

Rio Hondo Near Roswell, Nm

Read Sep 1, 10:30 AM MT

Live from the USGS National Water Information System. Cubic feet per second — one cfs is about 449 gallons a minute. A tile that says no reading means the gage did not report, which is not the same as a dry ditch.

Drought in these counties

Chaves County, New Mexico

On the 2026-08-25 map, 100% of the county was in moderate drought or worse, 85% in severe or worse. U.S. Drought Monitor, retrieved 2026-08-31.

How much of Chaves County, New Mexico has been in drought

Share of Chaves County, New Mexico in severe drought or worse (D2–D4), weekly, 2000–2026. Source: U.S. Drought Monitor (National Drought Mitigation Center, USDA, NOAA). Categories are published cumulatively.

Lincoln County, New Mexico

On the 2026-08-25 map, 100% of the county was in moderate drought or worse, 100% in severe or worse. U.S. Drought Monitor, retrieved 2026-08-31.

How much of Lincoln County, New Mexico has been in drought

Share of Lincoln County, New Mexico in severe drought or worse (D2–D4), weekly, 2000–2026. Source: U.S. Drought Monitor (National Drought Mitigation Center, USDA, NOAA). Categories are published cumulatively.

Otero County, New Mexico

On the 2026-08-25 map, 88% of the county was in moderate drought or worse, 57% in severe or worse. U.S. Drought Monitor, retrieved 2026-08-31.

How much of Otero County, New Mexico has been in drought

Share of Otero County, New Mexico in severe drought or worse (D2–D4), weekly, 2000–2026. Source: U.S. Drought Monitor (National Drought Mitigation Center, USDA, NOAA). Categories are published cumulatively.

Adjudications reaching this region

The court process that decides, for every user on a stream system, how much water they have a right to and how old that right is. Status is the state's own, from its adjudication layer.

On-goingRoswell-Artesia BasinOffice of the State Engineer. No case page is linked from the state's layer.

On-goingHondo/Rio BonitoOffice of the State Engineer. No case page is linked from the state's layer.

Named acequias here (136)

The ditches the state's acequia layer names. Deduplicated — one acequia is often several conveyance segments in the source.

A. SANCHEZ · A.SANCHEZ · A.SILVA · AMBROCIO CHAVEZ · AMBROCIO CHAVEZ DITCH NO.1 · AMBROCIO CHAVEZ(LOWER) · AMBROSIO CHAVEZ · ANALLA AND BARRAGAN · ANALLA SPRING · ANOLLO, BORROGON · AVENT · BARRAGAN & WEST DITCH, A.K.A. NEWCOME · BARRAGAN AND WEST A/K/A NEWCOME DITCH · BARROGON, WEST A/K/A NEW COME · BLOOM · BONITO · BRACKEN · BRADSTREET & VORWERK · BRODSTREET, WORWERK · BUCK GUYSE A/K/A SOUTH SIDE CASEY · C. HILBERN · C. HILBERN(ABANDONED) · CASEY & RAMON VIGIL · CEDOR CREEK · CHOSAS DITCH NORTH · CHOSAS DITCH SOUTH · CHOSAS,SOUTH A/K/A LOWER CHOSAS SOUTH · CIRCLE DIAMOND · CORRIZO CREEK · COX · CRUZ DE JARA · DIAMOND A · DITCH NO 1 · DITCH NO 2 · DITCH NO 3 · DRAINAGE · E. FRITZ · E. SILVA · EAGLE CREEK · EIGHTMILE DRAW · ELENA VIGIL · F. & M. ANALA · F. CHAVEZ · F. COE · F. HERRERA DITCH SOUTH · F. HERRERA DITCH SOUTH A/K/A GOMEZ · F. HILBERN · F. SANCHEZ · F. SANCHEZ DITCH SOUTH · F.ALISON · F.CHOVOS · F.COE · F.SANCHEZ · FRITZ & GONZALES · FRITZ GONZOLES · G. COE · GOVERNMENT SPRING · H. FRITZ SPRING · HALE DITCH NORTH · HALE DITCH SOUTH · HALE DITCH SOUTH LATERAL · HEWETT · HIGH LINE · HONDO · HULBERT · HULBERT SPRING · Herrera Ditch · Hondo Reservoir Diversion Canal · IRRIGATION · J. & P. ANALLA · J. TULLY DITCH NORTH · J. TULLY DITCH SOUTH · J.W. MORRIS · JUONITO SPRING · KIRKLAND · KLINE · L. GALLEGOS · LAS CHOSAS · LATERAL FORM SERRANO · LEOPOLDO GONZOLES · LIMACHER · LINCOIN DITCH(UNDER GROUND PIPE) · LINCOLN · LITTLE CREEK · LONG TUXTON · LOS CHOSAS · LOTEROL · LUTZ · MAGADO CREEK · MAGODO CREEK · MAIN · MAXWEL · MES · MICHAELIS · MILLER · MIROBOL, NORMON · MONTANO · NORTH LAWS · NORTH LOWS · NORTH SPRING · OSO CREEK · Outlet Canal · P. CHAVEZ SPRING · P. GONZALES · PADILLA SPRING · PAS TORRES · PFINGISTEN · PICACHO · POBLO CHAVEZ · POPE · PROTECTORA · PROVIDENCIA · R. HERRERA · R.COE · R.HERRERA · RUIDOSO · Rio Bonito · Rio Hondo · Rio Hondo(OLD CHANNEL) · Rio Ruidoso · SAN PATRICLO · SANCHEZ · SEDILLO · SEDILLO A/K/A LA FORTUNA · SERRANO · SOLODO CREEK · SONCHEZ · SOUTH BERRENDO CREEK · SOUTH LAWS · SPRING CREEK · STORM · Salado Creek · TITSWORTH · U.S.B.R · UNDER GROUND · UPPER PROVIDENCIA

What this desk covers

An acequia is a community-governed irrigation ditch. In New Mexico it is also a political subdivision of the state, with elected commissioners and a mayordomo, and many of them are older than the state, the territory, and the counties drawn around them. Their business happens at the ditch, at the county, and at the Office of the State Engineer — almost never at a city council, which is why the rest of this site cannot carry it.

Office of the State Engineer (OSE): The state agency that administers New Mexico's water rights, issues permits, and enforces compliance orders.
Adjudication: The court process that decides, for every user on a stream system, how much water they have a right to and how old that right is. Seniority decides who gets water in a dry year.
Consumptive Irrigation Requirement (CIR): The state's estimate of how much water a crop actually consumes on an acre in a given place, in acre-feet per year. In an adjudication it becomes the ceiling on a water right — so the number itself is often what the fight is about.
Headgate: The gate where a ditch takes water from the river. Ordering one closed stops the whole ditch.

Where to get real help

Perfect World is not a law office and nothing on this desk is legal advice. These are the people who actually do this work.

New Mexico Acequia AssociationStatewide association of acequias — organizing, training, policy.OSE / ISC — AcequiasThe agency's own acequia program and its rules.Utton Transboundary Resources CenterUNM School of Law — New Mexico water law research and manuals.Acequia Assistance ProjectColorado Law — pro bono legal services to acequia communities.

Keep reading

The New Mexico acequia deskThe statewide map, a century of river record, and the reading room.New Mexico hubEvery city hub in the state.

Ditches, diversions, region boundaries and adjudications: New Mexico Office of the State Engineer, OSE GIS — OSE Conveyances, retrieved 2026-08-31. Geometry simplified for display; nothing moved, nothing invented. Not a survey product.