This land we call home, with all its beauty and enchantment, is often deprived of thirst-crushing water from its ever-blue skies. No New Mexican is unfamiliar with drought, from those who inhabited this land millennia ago, to those who are attending elementary school today.
We have adapted to the conditions; we are desert people. Urban dwellers have it easier in that struggle, thanks to the public potable water systems. Urbanites may often take for granted the ease of getting clean water with a twist of a faucet.
However, New Mexico is a predominantly rural state. And, in some communities, there is a different story to tell:
Meet Jose Marquez. He is the mayordomo, not for the traditional acequia, but for the Mutual Domestic, an organization that functions like a political subdivision of the State, to help small rural communities reach the aquifers. Mutual Domestics gather the members’ individual water rights allowed by the State constitution and make it a collective right around one of their wells. The mayordomo builds a team of volunteers to perform the tasks associated with the well, pipes, meters and beneficiaries of their water system.
Jose can tell you stories of winter nights he spent fixing a broken water pipe that didn’t have enough insulating dirt above, which caused the pipe to freeze. Jose can tell you this system is being fed by a shallow aquifer that offers little protection against potentially infectious contaminants, and risks running dry, given the drought conditions.
There are hundreds of communities in New Mexico that experience similar circumstances. Each story hovers around a similar theme: they can’t afford what it takes to run a water system. The revenues they collect from their rates are never enough to cover their expenses. State dollars are available for these Mutual Domestics, if they could only pay for the technical reports that support their funding requests. If they can barely pay for tools, parts, electricity and other basic expenses, we can imagine most won’t have what it takes to hire an engineer to assess the systems urgent needs and write a report, let alone design the needed system improvements. In other words, they can’t get the State dollars if they don’t have the financial resources to request the support. It’s complicated.
This is why NMCF has identified Thriving Environments as one of our core funding priority areas. Please join us in our effort to fund Thriving Environments by donating on our website: https://newmexicofoundation.givevirtuous.org/donate/thriving-environments
Patricio Guerrerortiz
NMCF Board of Directors
