Adjudications
Whether water rights will be privatized by an adjudication is determined by whether water priority is determined by ditch or tract. Water priority determined by ditch takes into account that acequias serve a community and is determined by the well documented history of water flow through the acequia. Water priority determined by tract is much more damaging. It ignores the history and purpose of acequias and assumes that acequias act more as pipes of water highly regulated, easily distributed and without the supervision or need of neighbors. It determines water rights for each specific parciante based on use and first use. Tract specific dates divide communities as it pits neighbor against neighbor as they compete for the earliest priority of the ditch. This erodes acequia communities, joining together to defend against adjudication, cleaning out the acequia, or governing the acequia all becomes difficult or impossible. It also disregards the physical functioning of acequias. As a gravity fed water way for the parciante at the end of the acequia to receive their water they need parciantes before them to also need water to create enough pressure to reach them and keep the water level up. If the only water that is allocated for the acequia for a parciante at the end of the Acequia that water will either evaporate or soak into the ground by the time that it reaches that land. And the very method of determining water priority for tracts is usually determined by documents never meant to record water rights. This causes water rights to be left to the mention of a ditch in a land boundary or in the mention of a deed instead of determining water rights by the well documented history of water in acequias. Once adjudicated tract specific water rights allows for land to be sold without concern for the acequia or the duties required of them such as cleaning them out or paying dues. Adjudications are a marathon of paperwork and decisions that can decimate the way of life that parciantes have lived for centuries. They are a weapon of the state to dilute and weaken acequia communities to free land for development and release water for industry or other farming practices.