WATER FOR THE PEOPLE

Water for the People features twenty-five essays by world-renowned acequia scholars and community members that highlight acequia culture, use, and history in New Mexico, northern Mexico, Chile, Peru, Argentina, Spain, the Middle East, Nepal, and the Philippines, situating New Mexico's acequia heritage and its inherent sustainable design within a global framework. The lush landscapes of the upper Río Grande watershed created by acequias dating from as far back as the late sixteenth century continue to irrigate their communities today despite threats of prolonged drought, urbanization, private water markets, extreme water scarcity, and climate change. Water for the People celebrates acequia practices and traditions worldwide and shows how these ancient irrigation systems continue to provide arid regions with a model for water governance, sustainable food systems, and community traditions that reaffirm a deep cultural and spiritual relationship with the land year after year.

Enrique R. Lamadrid is a distinguished professor emeritus of Spanish at the University of New Mexico. He is the editor of the Querencias Series at the University of New Mexico Press.

José A. Rivera is professor emeritus of community and regional planning at the University of New Mexico. He is the author of Acequia Culture: Water, Land, and Community in the Southwest (UNM Press).