The history of Acequia de Santa Cruz goes back to the 17th century after the early Spanish explorers came to the region. The establishment of Santa Cruz de la Cañada as a villa occured in 1695. The Santa Cruz de la Cañada Land Grant was established during that same time period. The Pueblos had built innovative water harvesting and irrigation structures for centuries long before the Spanish colonists arrived in 1598. But the Spanish colonizers went much further, diverting the Rio Grande and other major rivers and delivering that water to new settlements via the miles-long canals they and the Natives dug by hand. Through the years improvements have been made to what were originally earth banked waterways. Now, almost all the entire Acequia de Santa Cruz infrastructure is concrete lined.

An interesting historical fact: The earliest record of waterways indicate their use began in the area of Mesopatamia, the area considered the "Cradle of Mankind". The first settlers in Mesopotamia were the Sumerians and they spearheaded farming to thrive. The Sumarian civilization were the first known to have constructed water ways for irrigation. The ambitious dream of building irrigation in ancient Mesopotamia began in 8000 BC.

The watershed source for the Acequia de Santa Cruz originates at the Truchas Peaks massif, which is made up of four identifiable summits, North Truchas Peak, Middle Truchas Peak, Medio Truchas Peak, and South Truchas Peak, the highest. The Truchas Peaks are drained on the west into Rio de las Trampas; and the Rio Quemado, the Rio Medio, the Rio Frijoles, as well, becoming the Rio Santa Cruz downstream. The Masthead graphic for this website depicts this wonderful source in a picture captured during the winter of 2023.

El Agua es la Vida, “water is life.”

ATTENTION:Regular watering days will be Friday and Saturday.
An email can be sent to parciantes with accounts having emails listed.
Collection effort by Acequia Treasurer resulting in improved revenue.
Ongoing process improvements to collect on accounts in arrears.
New business process to improve WR Registation compliance & account reviews.
Grant for design work awarded by the New Mexico Interstate Stream Commission.
New announcements will be posted as necessary.
Please check back. Go to the Calendar here.