N.M. Code R. § 19.26.2.7 – Definitions

Unless defined below or in a specific section of these regulations, all other words used herein shall be given their customary and accepted meaning.

A. Abandonment: The loss of a water right based on the nonuse of water and the intent by the water right owner to permanently relinquish or forsake the right.
B. Acequia: An irrigation ditch managed and maintained by the local community it serves. Acequias and community ditch associations are considered legal subdivisions of the state pursuant to Section 73-2-28 NMSA.
C. Acre-foot: A volume of water sufficient to cover one (1) acre of land one (1) foot deep. One acre-foot is equal to 43,560 cubic feet or 325,851 gallons.
D. Beneficial use: The direct use or storage and use of water by man for a beneficial purpose including, but not limited to, agricultural, municipal, commercial, industrial, domestic, livestock, fish and wildlife, and recreational uses. Beneficial use shall be the basis, the measure, and the limit of a water right.
E. Certificate of construction: A document issued by the state engineer which recognizes that construction of the works has been in accordance with the permit.
F. Community ditch: An irrigation ditch managed and maintained by the local community it serves. Acequias and community ditch associations are considered legal subdivisions of the state pursuant to Section 73-2-28 NMSA.
G. Consumptive irrigation requirement (CIR): The quantity of irrigation water, expressed as a depth or volume, exclusive of effective rainfall, that is consumptively used by plants or is evaporated from the soil surface during one calendar year. The consumptive irrigation requirement (CIR) may be numerically determined by subtracting effective rainfall from the consumptive use.
H. Consumptive use: The quantity of water consumed during the application of water to beneficial use. The quantity of water beneficially consumed depends on the requirements of a particular enterprise and how it applies and consumes the water. The authorized diversion of water that is not beneficially consumed in the course of water use is not part of the allowable consumptive use allocation of the water right. The consumptive use of water by a crop (evapotranspiration) does not include depletions such as evaporation from canals, ditches or irrigated fields during surface application, transpiration by vegetation along ditches, evaporation or leakage from irrigation water pipes, evaporation of sprinkler spray and drift losses, and evaporation of runoff and seepage from irrigated fields.
I. Dam: A man-made barrier constructed across a watercourse or off-channel for the purpose of storage, control, or diversion of water.
J. Effective rainfall: The average rainfall during the growing period of a crop that becomes available to help meet the consumptive use of water by the crop.
K. Duty of water (farm delivery requirement): The average quantity of water that is delivered on an annual basis to the farm headgate or is diverted from a source of water that originates on the farm itself - such as a well or spring - to satisfy the consumptive irrigation requirement of crops grown on a farm. In practice, the farm delivery requirement is estimated by dividing the crop irrigation requirement by the irrigation efficiency.
L. Forty-year planning entity: A municipality, county, state university, member-owned community water system, special water users’ association, or public utility supplying water to a municipality or county which is allowed a water use planning period of not to exceed forty years pursuant to Section 72-1-9 NMSA.
M. Headgate: A mechanism in a dam or ditch that controls the flow of water through the outlet.
N. Hearing: An administrative proceeding on an order entered by the state engineer, or the filing of an application, protest, aggrieval or other pleading, in which parties may present evidence according to the rules and procedures contained in 19.25.2 NMAC.
O. Historical supply: The average quantity of water historically available from a specific source at the point of diversion to meet the farm delivery requirement. Historical supply is expressed as a percentage of the total farm delivery requirement.
P. Impoundment: Any man made or modified structure or diversion works intended for the retention or detention of water, including but not limited to livestock water tanks, sumps, spring boxes, subsurface excavations, metal tanks, ponds and dams.
Q. Infiltration gallery: Constructed works laid in, adjacent to, or below a streambed or spring source that intercepts surface water.
R. Irrigation efficiency: The portion of the duty of water, expressed as a percentage, consumed to meet the crop irrigation requirement.
S. License: A document issued by the state engineer after final proof of application of water to beneficial use has been filed and inspection has been completed that confirms the extent of diversion and beneficial use of water made in conformance with permit conditions.
T. Livestock: All domestic or domesticated animals that are used or raised on a farm or ranch, including exotic animals in captivity and includes horses, asses, mules, cattle, sheep, goats, swine, bison, poultry, ostriches, emus, rheas, camelids and farmed cervidae. Livestock does not include canine or feline animals.
U. Livestock water impoundment: Any impoundment used exclusively for watering livestock.
V. Perennial stream: A stream or reach of a stream that flows continuously throughout the year. Under extreme conditions such as severe drought some streams considered perennial may not contain water.
W. Permit: A document issued by the state engineer that authorizes the diversion of water from a specific point of diversion, for a particular beneficial use, and at a particular place of use, in accordance with the conditions of approval. A permit allows the permittee to develop a water right through the application of water to beneficial use, in conformance with the permit’s conditions of approval. A permit in itself does not constitute a water right.
X. Point of diversion: The location of constructed works where water is diverted from a stream, watercourse, or well.
Y. Project diversion requirement or off-farm diversion requirement: When the source of water does not originate on the farm, the project diversion requirement or off-farm diversion requirement is the average quantity of water that is diverted from an off-farm source to satisfy the farm delivery requirement for one calendar year.
Z. Proof of application of water to beneficial use: A document filed with the state engineer by a permittee demonstrating the actual beneficial use to which water has been applied under a permit.
AA. Rate of diversion: The instantaneous measurement of water being taken from a stream, watercourse, or well.
BB. Spring: A site where surface water flows freely from the ground under natural conditions. The flow at land surface may be perennial or intermittent in nature.
CC. Stream system: The surface waters of a river or stream and all groundwater hydrologically connected to those surface waters.
DD. Surface water: Water found in any watercourse including impoundments, ponds, lakes, reservoirs, springs, streams and rivers or flows obtained from an infiltration gallery.
EE. Water right: The legal right to appropriate water for a specific beneficial use. The elements of a water right generally include owner, point of diversion, place of use, purpose of use, priority date, amount of water, periods of use, and any other element necessary to describe the right. A permitted or declared right is considered to be a valid water right only to the extent water has been legally placed to beneficial use.
FF. Watercourse: Any river, creek, arroyo, canyon, draw or wash, or any other channel having definite banks and bed with visible evidence of the flow of water.

[19.26.2.7 NMAC - N, 1/31/2005]