New Mexico Administrative Code › Title 19 - NATURAL RESOURCES AND WILDLIFE › Chapter 26 - SURFACE WATER › Part 2 - ADMINISTRATION › Section 19.26.2.7 - DEFINITIONS

Current through Register Vol. 35, No. 13, July 16, 2024
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.