Continuing my sporadic reporting on my new role as Majordomo ("ditch boss") of the acequia (irrigation canal) that carries the water of the Pecos River to the fields of the parciantes (shareholders) who grow stuff on the lands their hardy ancestors received as a merced (land grant) from the Government of Mexico in 1821, the Anton Chico Land Grant.
Photos of the acequia can be seen in my earlier diaries on this topic.
To nobodies' surprise, after just a couple of weeks, we have begun the water shortage protocol ("the rotation") because there is not enough flow in the Pecos to adequately fill both our acequia ("Teco") and the one that serves the east side of the River ("Hormigoso") at the same time. How this manifests is we get the water for four days and they then get it for ten days, as there are more extensive fields on the east side of the river.
Adjudication of this protocol is administered by old Sevriano, the Watermaster for the whole valley, and he is accepted as "neutral" in the ongoing tension between the two sides of the River.
This is the earliest date anyone can remember for the rotation protocol to be instituted. Most years, there has been no need for it, and the few years I have seen it used, in the past 20 that I have been here, it didn't occur until later in the year, during summers of no monsoon.
It will be a difficult summer, especially for those of my neighbors who irrigate fields of alfalfa for baling as forage, the major cash crop in the valley. While there won't be sufficient water for those fields, we will attempt to keep a small flow going as long as possible for those with vegetable gardens.
While our pasture will suffer some, we personally will be able to keep our veggie gardens and shade trees (crucial to living without AC) going with drip irrigation off our private well, systems I have installed in the past couple of years in anticipation of water shortages like this one.
Thinking long-term, it would be very beneficial if the money could be found to improve the acequia infrastructure, specifically lining the waterway with concrete so water is not lost through leakage, and then leveling the fields and providing pipe systems to spread the water more efficiently within the fields, as some of the parciantes have already done for their own fields. These improvements would increase productivity of the fields while reducing the amount of river that needs to be diverted to get enough water to them. My rough calculations indicate to me that we divert about 10 times the water that we actually can get to the plants. Most of it returns back to the river unused, despite all our efforts using these primitive distribution technologies.
Meanwhile, this is still the Home Repair/Improvement discussion site, and despite my excursion into other matters, I and the other regulars will be glad to discuss any home repair issues you may choose to bring up. Maybe we can help out. Thanks for your attention.