Water wars in the modern west
New Mexico is running out of water. We are in drought. Our laws and regulations are based on principles that existed over 100 years ago in very different social and economic climates.
The state was sparsely populated, and people relied mainly on surface water supplies in 1907 when New Mexico's Water Code was enacted. The main economic factors, and therefore the main political influences, were agriculture and livestock concerns. The state’s constitution adopted in 1912 set into place laws that reflected old ways and old thinking that are not feasible in today’s reality…