Acequia

Acequia

Acequias near our home are a unique ecosystem and historic part of our community in Albuquerque's North Valley.

In Spring, snow melt from the mountains fill the Rio Grande river and course into the irrigation woven through the oldest neighborhoods in the Albuquerque Valley. The Mayordomos, traditional caretakers of the community water, begin their seasonal tasks, guiding the path of water as they have for four hundred years.

We take daily walks along the acequias, bordered by tall cottonwoods and traditional ocotillo fences. The clay soil is cracked and crumble under foot with stamped horseshoes tracks. The sun and clouds reflect on the slow moving, mossy current. The prickly pear cactus swell as they ready to bloom. Light cascades through the trees and glints on the water.