New Mexico Ex Rel. State Engineer v. Trujillo

MATHESON, Circuit Judge.

This appeal arises out of a long-running general stream adjudication, a lawsuit that determines parties’ rights to use a particular water source. The water source here is the Nambé-Pojoaque-Tesuque Basin (“Basin”), a stream system emanating from the Sangre de Cristo Mountains in Santa Fe County, New Mexico.

The State of New Mexico (“State”) is currently engaged in individual adjudications with parties who hold permits to divert the Basin’s underground water through the use of domestic water wells. In an individual adjudication, the State and the permit holder negotiate…