ABSTRACT
When a water right holder refers to their water right they usually call it “my” water. Likewise state water managers frequently refer to “our” water meaning the water that resides within the boundaries of New Mexico. Although “my” and “our” carry with them the notion of ownership and control, water does not fit easily into the same property rights concepts we associate with land rights. Land rights have a degree of exclusivity, and water is inherently shared. I have frequently said that if water just stayed in one place it would be easy to manage. But, water doesn’t. It moves through the hydrological cycle being shared by many users over time. This results in a series of water rights, created by both federal and state laws, that can be impacted if changes are made in the way water moves through the cycle. The parameters of each water right are limited by the rules that define the relationships between these water rights (Matthews, 2004). The rules create both horizontal and vertical forms of shared governance at several scales (Matthews, 1994). How shared governance operates in New Mexico is the subject of this chapter.
