In all cases where local or community customs, rules and regulations have been adopted and are in force and in all cases where such rules and regulations may be adopted from time to time by the majority of the users from a common canal, lateral or irrigation system, and have for their object the economical use of water and are not detrimental to the public welfare, such rules and regulations shall govern the distribution of water from such ditches, laterals and irrigation systems to the persons entitled to water therefrom, and such customs, rules and regulations shall not be molested or changed, unless so desired by the persons interested and using said custom or customs, but nothing in this section shall be taken to impair the authority of the state engineer and water master to regulate the distribution of water from the various stream systems of the state to the ditches and irrigation systems entitled to water therefrom under the provisions of this article. History: Laws 1907, ch. 49, § 57; Code 1915, § 5715; C.S. 1929, § 151-168; 1941 Comp., § 77-802; 1953 Comp., § 75-8-2. Compiler's notes. — The 1915 Code compilers substituted the term "this article" for "this act." "This act" would refer to Laws 1907, ch. 49, the provisions of which are presently compiled as 19-7-26, 72-1-1, 72-1-2, 72-1-5, 72-2-1 to 72-2-7, 72-2-9, 72-2-10, 72-3-1 to 72-3-5, 72-4-1, 72-4-13, 72-4-15, 72-4-17 to 72-4-19, 72-5-1, 72-5-3, 72-5-4, 72-5-6 to 72-5-24, 72-5-26 to 72-5-28, 72-5-33, 72-7-1 to 72-7-3, 72-8-1 to 72-8-6, 72-9-1 to 72-9-3 NMSA 1978. "This article" would refer to the same sections and, in addition, to 72-5-2, 72-5-29 to 72-5-31 NMSA 1978. Cross references. — For the state engineer, see 72-2-1 NMSA 1978. Community ditch association's system for distributing ditch rights was not incompatible with 1962 court decree. — Where the governing body of the acequia mesa del medio (AMM) issued a new irrigation schedule, reducing plaintiffs irrigation time from the acequia, and where plaintiffs brought an action against AMM seeking declaratory and injunctive relief, disputing how AMM distributes water to the holders of ditch rights and how AMM assigns a particular time period for taking water from the acequia to each member of the association and specifically asserting that the system by which AMM determines the date and amount of time that each holder of a ditch right may take water from the acequia during each irrigation cycle (the derecho system) is incompatible with a 1962 court decree that recognized the authority of each community ditch and acequia association to distribute water to the holders of water rights in accordance with local customs and traditions, and where the district court dismissed landowner's claims for declaratory and injunctive relief relating to the derecho system, concluding that AMM had the authority to distribute water to its members based on custom, the district court did not err in dismissing plaintiffs' claims, because the 1962 court decree recognized the authority of each community ditch and acequia association to distribute water to the holders of water rights in accordance with local customs and traditions, and in this case, AMM adopted the irrigation schedule for distributing water on the acequia based on its own local traditions and customs; plaintiffs failed to establish that the adjudication of irrigation water rights in the 1962 court decree supersedes or conflicts with AMM's use of the derecho system to distribute water from the acequia to the landowners involved in this case. Lujan v. Acequia Mesa Del Medio , 2024-NMCA-043, cert. denied. The district court retained subject matter jurisdiction because it did not adjudicate or readjudicate water rights. — Where the governing body of the acequia mesa del medio (AMM) issued a new irrigation schedule, reducing plaintiffs' irrigation time from the acequia, and where plaintiffs brought an action against AMM seeking declaratory and injunctive relief, disputing how AMM distributes water to the holders of ditch rights and how AMM assigns a particular time period for taking water from the acequia to each member of the association, and where the district court, in granting AMM's motion for summary judgment, made determinations about the ownership of some of the land that a 1962 court case identified as having an appurtenant water right, and where plaintiffs argued that the district court overstepped its subject matter jurisdiction by entering seven orders that readjudicated water rights that had been adjudicated in the 1962 court case, the district court did not overstep its jurisdiction because the district court did not adjudicate or readjudicate water rights that had already been adjudicated by the 1962 court case, but merely dismissed the claim for declaratory relief because plaintiffs failed to carry their burden in opposing summary judgment. Lujan v. Acequia Mesa Del Medio , 2024-NMCA-043, cert. denied. Authority not impaired. — Nothing in this section shall be taken to impair authority of state engineer and watermaster to regulate distribution of water from various stream systems of state to ditches and irrigation systems entitled to water therefrom. 1953 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 53-5734. Law reviews. — For article, "Water Rights Problems in the Upper Rio Grande Watershed and Adjoining Areas," see 11 Nat. Resources J. 48 (1971). Am. Jur. 2d, A.L.R. and C.J.S. references. — 78 Am. Jur. 2d Waters § 283. 93 C.J.S. Waters § 11.
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