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Title Water for the people : the acequia heritage of New Mexico in a global context / edited by Enrique R. Lamadrid and José A. Rivera
Published Albuquerque : University of New Mexico Press, 2023
©2023

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Description 1 online resource (xxxv, 250 pages) : color illustrations
Series New Century Gardens and Landscapes of the American Southwest Series
New century gardens and landscapes of the American Southwest.
Contents Introduction. Poema. Bendición del agua / Olivia Romo -- Acequias de Nuevo México. Rio Grande acequias / Thomas F. Glick, Luis Pablo Martínez Sanmartín and José A. Rivera -- A bird's-eye view of Northern New Mexico's acequias / Alejandro López -- Acequias waters / Paula García & Miguel Santistevan -- Framing the spring ritual of la limpia / Donatella Davanzo -- The waterfall acequias of the Mora Valley / Enrique R. Lamadrid -- Trans-basin diversion in the forest wilderness / José A. Rivera -- Valdez / Sylvia Rodríguez -- La bajada village acequia landscapes / Arnold Valdez -- Cultivating a sensible food system / Miguel Santisteva -- Acequias as a sustainable model for hydro-ecology / Quita Ortiz -- Conservation in the conservancy district / Yasmeen Najmi -- España y México: patrimonios ancestrales. Valencia and New Mexico's Hermanamiento Ceremony / Don Bustos -- Safeguarding the global cultural heritage of community acequias / Luis Pablo Martínez Sanmartín -- Heritage acequias of Spain / Armando J. Lamadrid -- El Palmeral de Elche / Carlos Ortiz Mayordomo and Lina Gracia -- Bounty of the Columbian exchange / Enrique R. and Armando J. Lamadrid -- Tlaxcala and Aranjuez / Enrique R. and Armando J. Lamadri -- Valle de Allende and Aldama / Enrique R. Lamadrid -- Nuevo México y El Mundo. Land and water in the Middle East / Estevan Arellano and Enrique R. Lamadrid -- Traditional communal irrigation / R. Jack Meyers -- Climate calamity and high-mountain glacier irrigation in Nepal and Perú / Armando J. Lamadrid -- The Zanjeras / José A. Rivera -- Las acequias de Chile / José Luis Arumí and Ovidio Melo -- Looking to the past for solution for the future / Andrew Bernard -- Epilogue: el agua se defiende. In defense of water, agriculture, and people / Enrique R. Lamadrid and José A. Rivera
Summary "Water for the People: The Acequia Heritage of New Mexico in a Global Context is a new anthology of essays by world-renowned acequia scholars and community members that situates New Mexico's acequia heritage and its inherent sustainable design within a global framework. Initially inspired by two special issues of the Green Fire Times (GFT) that centered on New Mexico's rich acequia traditions, Water for the People features twenty-five essays (including the Epilogue) highlighting acequia culture, use, and history in New Mexico and northern Mexico complemented by accompanying articles that focus on acequias in Chile and Peru, Spain, the Middle East, Nepal, and the Philippines. A hybrid Iberian model of irrigation melded with irrigated agricultural practices already existing in the Americas in places like Peru, Mesoamerica, and the high-altitude deserts of northern New Spain inhabited by Puebloan peoples that is now the American Southwest. In the case of the upper Rio Grande, the lush landscapes created by acequias in the late-sixteenth and early-seventeenth centuries and later continue to feed their communities today despite threats of economic modernity, urbanization, private water markets, and conditions of extreme water scarcity due to cycles of prolonged drought and the emerging impacts of climate change. Water for the People demonstrates through a series of connected essays how the acequia in New Mexico is part of an agricultural web of creative irrigation works that stretches from Valencia, Spain, to the Middle East, Mexico, the Philippines, Argentina, and elsewhere. This volume celebrates acequia practices and traditions worldwide and shows how these ancient irrigation systems continue to provide arid regions a model for water governance, sustainable food systems, and in the case of New Mexico, community traditions that year after year reaffirms a deep cultural and spiritual relationship with the land. Ditch-irrigation systems have stood as the backbone of New Mexican landscape and garden construction for over four centuries. Acequias offer a proven and elegant answer to these everlasting questions: How do you provide consistent water so that a garden, field, or pasture will thrive? And how do you do so in a place that is known for its droughts, heat, thin soils, remarkably small streams and springs, and other scarce agricultural resources? Existing literature on acequias include technical and historical studies, ethnographies, and even memoir, but none has the global scope of this anthology"-- Provided by publisher
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index
Notes Description based on online resource; title from digital title page (viewed on March 09, 2023)
Subject Irrigation canals and flumes -- New Mexico
Irrigation farming -- New Mexico
Sustainable agriculture -- New Mexico
Irrigation canals and flumes
Irrigation farming
Manners and customs
Sustainable agriculture
SUBJECT New Mexico -- Social life and customs
Subject New Mexico
Form Electronic book
Author Lamadrid, Enrique R., editor.
Rivera, José A., 1944- editor.
LC no. 2022016257
ISBN 9780826364647
0826364640
Other Titles Acequia heritage of New Mexico in a global context