Acequia de Nuestra Señora de Belen

Community owned and operated, the acequia (known also as the Belen Ditch) was constructed between Belen and Isleta, N.M., to convey irrigation water from the Rio Grande. It was the subject of legal disputes during the 1930s, when the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District sought to absorb it.

Acequia de Nuestra Senora de Belen, a community-owned and operated ditch, was constructed in 1905 by farmers in the area between Belen and Isleta, New Mexico, to convey irrigation water from the Rio Grande. The property owners located along the ditch formed an association for the purpose of regulating the distribution of ditch water. It was one of many such small ditch associations formed in New Mexico. Water rights were contingent upon an owner working on the ditch. This usually involved cleaning the ditch and keeping it clear of weeds.

In the 1930s, the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District (an association of smaller irrigation and reclamation projects) sought to absorb the Belen Ditch. A court ruling left the shareholders in possession of the ditch and its water, but granted the district the right to distribute water to certain non-shareholders below the ditch, in exchange for a fee.