New Mexico Administrative Code › Title 19 - NATURAL RESOURCES AND WILDLIFE › Chapter 25 - ADMINISTRATION AND USE OF WATER - GENERAL PROVISIONS › Part 13 - ACTIVE WATER RESOURCE MANAGEMENT › Section 19.25.13.7 - DEFINITIONS

Current through Register Vol. 35, No. 13, July 16, 2024
Unless defined below in a specific section of these rules,
				  all words used herein shall be given their customary and accepted meanings. All
				  uses of masculine pronouns or possessives shall be held to include the
				  feminine.
A. Adjudication: A
				comprehensive court proceeding to establish the elements of each water right
				for all water right owners on a stream system with respect to the state of New
				Mexico and as among each other, including the priority, amount, purpose,
				periods and place of use and the specific tracts of land to which the water
				right is appurtenant, as provided by Section
				72-4-19
				NMSA.
B. Administrable water right:
				A water right or right to impound, store or release water, the elements of
				which have been determined by a court of competent jurisdiction or determined
				on an interim basis by the state engineer under these rules and regulations.
				The state engineer may make determinations of the elements of a water right for
				purposes of administration prior to the commencement or completion of, and
				during the pendency of, a water rights adjudication. State engineer
				determinations made for purposes of administration are subject to review by any
				court of competent jurisdiction and are not binding on that court. Such
				determinations are subject to the decrees of an adjudication court of competent
				jurisdiction, and are not binding on such an adjudication court.
C. Administration: Distribution by a water
				master of available water supplies within a water master district or
				sub-district, subject to any legal constraints identified by or imposed on the
				state engineer, for specific beneficial uses by the owners of administrable
				water rights that are in-priority. There are four forms of administration
				available to achieve different objectives. These forms are defined below
				together with subsidiary definitions. A water master may, based on the
				applicable district-specific regulations, use any of these forms of
				administration, depending on the specific legal and physical aspects of the
				water supplies that are subject to administration and the existence or absence
				of agreements for alternative administration. Administration may also combine
				these forms within a water master district, as the water master finds
				appropriate or necessary. The specific form of administration, or combination
				of forms of administration, that will be utilized in each water master district
				will be established through promulgation of district-specific regulations.
				Notice of such promulgation will be provided pursuant to Subsection D of
				72-2-8
				NMSA.
(1) Direct flow administration
(a) Direct flow water: All the flow of a
				stream, including storage reservoir inflows that are legally bypassed through
				that reservoir, but excluding sources of flow augmentation such as storage
				water releases or imported water.
(b) Direct flow administration: Distribution
				of direct flow water by a water master for diversion and beneficial use, or for
				diversion and storage in a reservoir, in accordance with the affected
				administrable water rights. Direct flow administration consists of both
				protection of available direct flow water for diversion and use by in-priority
				administrable water rights, and protection of direct flow water from
				out-of-priority diversion. Direct flow administration may incorporate changes
				to the water master's determination of which water rights are in-priority and
				which are out-of-priority on a daily basis, depending on the currently
				available direct flows.