Any person proposing to drill wells or recomplete existing wells to appropriate waters referred to in Section 72-12-25 NMSA 1978 shall file a notice of intention to drill or recomplete with the office of the state engineer in such form as the state engineer shall prescribe and shall publish a notice, in a newspaper of general circulation in the county in which the proposed wells will be located once a week for three consecutive weeks, stating the location and the proposed depth of such wells, the purpose for which the water shall be used and an estimate of the volume of water to be used. The wells shall not be drilled or recompleted prior to thirty days after the last publication of the notice and until the state engineer has determined that the use of water stated in the notice will not impair existing water rights, be contrary to the conservation of water within the state or be detrimental to the public welfare of the state.

History: 1953 Comp., § 75-11-38, enacted by Laws 1967, ch. 86, § 2; 1978 Comp., § 72-12-26, 2025, ch. 97, § 5.

ANNOTATIONS

Cross references. — For publication of legal notice, see 14-11-1 NMSA 1978.

For the state engineer, see 72-2-1 NMSA 1978.

The 2025 amendment, effective June 20, 2025, provided additional requirements before a person drills a well or recompletes an existing well to appropriate waters; added the section heading; and after "recompleted prior to" deleted "ten" and added "thirty" and after "publication of the notice" added the remainder of the section.

Law reviews. — For article, "Centralized Decisionmaking in the Administration of Groundwater Rights: The Experience of Arizona, California and New Mexico and Suggestions for the Future," see 24 Nat. Resources J. 641 (1984).

Am. Jur. 2d, A.L.R. and C.J.S. references. — 94 C.J.S. Waters § 345.