THE SHIFTING DYNAMICS OF WESTERN WATER RIGHTS ADJUDICATIONS AND ITS IMPACT ON THE SUPPORTING STATE INFORMATION INFRASTRUCTURE

摘要

New Mexico, like most Western States, is in the process of adjudicating water rights in a changing environment that includes increasing pressures from extended droughts, population, interstate and international water compacts, Winter's Rights, and the Endangered Species Act. Traditionally, legal adjudications have determined water rights ownership based on a point in time, but this changing environment is shifting a once static legal process into a potentially new and dynamic layer of western water management. The Legal Services Division of the New Mexico State Engineer's Office is facing the increasing potential of having to adjudicate water rights and perhaps manage rights subject to ongoing adjudication. Legal teams in New Mexico are facing the increasing potential of having to manage much of the state's water without information systems to support that management. This paper explores the key legal issues and resultant impacts on the adjudication and water management information infrastructure.