Giving Tuesday is a global day of giving. Your gift to the New Mexico Acequia Association supports our work throughout the year to fulfill our vision of acequias flowing with clean water and people working together to grow food and celebrate our cultural heritage.
So far during 2014, NMAA has worked with hundreds of local acequias, community leaders, families, and youth to keep acequia lands irrigated and our agricultural traditions vibrant. Some of our highlights include the following:
- NMAA staff and leaders gave presentations through the Acequia Governance Project on water rights, governance, and infrastructure funding at 51 workshops and conferences with 1,100 participants.
- Through Sembrando Semillas and the Escuelita de las Acequias, NMAA staff and volunteers coordinated 29 local community-based, intergenerational events focused on food, land and water, and culture with over 700 participants.
- Our 2014 Congreso de las Acequias was attended by nearly 300 acequia leaders from throughout New Mexico who came together to celebrate our 25th anniversary and to build unity around our 2015 legislative agenda.
- NMAA advocated for funding for acequias at the NM State Legislature in 2014 resulting in $1.9 in ongoing funds, $2 million special appropriation for acequia projects statewide, and $1.4 million in Capital Outlay. Funding for the Acequia and Community Ditch Fund was increased which benefits over 15,000 families who are in active adjudications around the state.
Acequia leaders throughout New Mexico have been models for innovative approaches to water sharing and have been at the forefront of challenging water transfers and water-intensive developments with potentially far reaching impacts to our long term water supplies. The NMAA supports these grassroots efforts with communications, training, and leadership development. Every year, we engage an intergenerational cohort of community leaders through our Escuelita de las Acequias, a popular education school, to be strong and engaged leaders locally and statewide. Your support makes a difference in communities throughout rural New Mexico by supporting the stewards and caretakers of our water – the acequias.
Please consider a gift or membership renewal to the New Mexico Acequia Association. The NMAA is a 501 (c) (3) non-profit organization and contributions to the NMAA are tax-deductible. Join as a member or make a donation by clicking "DONATE" in the upper right hand corner above. Thank you for your support!
Que Vivan las Acequias!!