40-551: Acequia Madre is Spanish for "mother ditch", a main acequia or irrigation canal. Acequia Madre may refer to: Acequia An acequia ( Spanish: [aˈθekja] ) or séquia ( Catalan: [ˈsekiə, -a] , also known as síquia [ˈsikiə, -a] ) is a community-operated watercourse used in Spain and former Spanish colonies in the Americas for irrigation . Acequias are found in parts of Spain,
80-628: A type of water wheel . Traditionally, the Spanish acequias have been associated with the Muslim colonization of the Iberian Peninsula ; however the most likely hypothesis is that they improved on irrigation systems that already existed since Roman times , or even before. These ways of agricultural planning and colonization strategies come from the vast amount of cultural influences contributing to Spanish technology and governance. Likely
120-542: A 10 m high section to cross a 300 m wide valley, to carry water to their capital city, Nineveh . Although particularly associated with the Romans , aqueducts were likely first used by the Minoans around 2000 BCE. The Minoans had developed what was then an extremely advanced irrigation system , including several aqueducts. The Indian subcontinent is believed to have some of the earliest aqueducts. Evidence can be found at
160-529: A distinctive feature of Roman aqueducts and hence the term aqueduct is often applied specifically to a bridge for carrying water . Near the Peruvian town of Nazca, an ancient pre-Columbian system of aqueducts called puquios were built and are still in use today. They were made of intricately placed stones, a construction material widely used by the Nazca culture. The time period in which they were constructed
200-561: A dry land environment. In Persia , starting around 3000 years ago a system of underground aqueducts called qanāts were constructed, a series of well-like vertical shafts, connected by gently sloping tunnels. This technique: Throughout Petra , Jordan, the Nabataean engineers took advantage of every natural spring and every winter downpour to channel water where it was needed. They constructed aqueducts and piping systems that allowed water to flow across mountains, through gorges and into
240-545: A fragment remains in Mexico City today. Extensive usage of elaborate aqueducts have been found to have been used in ancient Sri Lanka . The best example is the Yoda Ela or Jaya Ganga, an 87 kilometres (54 mi) long water canal carrying excess water between two artificial reservoirs with a gradient of 10 to 20 cm per kilometer during the fifth century AD. However, the ancient engineering methods in calculating
280-589: A mayordomo. Irrigation and conservation districts typically have their own version of mayordomos, usually referred to as "ditch riders" by members of the districts. Acequias in New Mexico and Colorado have successfully developed and implemented changes in state water laws to accommodate the unique norms, customs, and practices of the acequia systems. But the communal owners of the acequias in New Mexico are receiving hard economic pushes from land developers and current inflation that are pushing them to consider selling
320-515: A source such as a river, spring, reservoir, qanat , or aqueduct for domestic consumption or agricultural irrigation of crop land uses. Rills were traditionally used in Middle Eastern and Mediterranean climate cultures of ancient and historical eras; and other climates and continents worldwide. They are distinguished from a 'water ditch ' by being lined to reduce absorption losses and to increase durability. The Falaj irrigation system at
360-460: A source to a distribution point far away. In modern engineering, the term aqueduct is used for any system of pipes, ditches, canals, tunnels, and other structures used for this purpose. The term aqueduct also often refers specifically to a bridge carrying an artificial watercourse . Aqueducts were used in ancient Greece , the ancient Near East , ancient Rome , ancient Aztec , and ancient Inca . The simplest aqueducts are small ditches cut into
400-642: A third is from the Colorado River. In modern civil engineering projects, detailed study and analysis of open-channel flow is commonly required to support flood control, irrigation systems, and large water supply systems when an aqueduct rather than a pipeline is the preferred solution. In the past, aqueducts often had channels made of earth or other porous materials but significant amounts of water are lost through such unlined aqueducts. As water gets increasingly scarce, these canals are being lined with concrete, polymers , or impermeable soil. In some cases,
440-509: A thousand years. Roman aqueducts were built in all parts of the Roman Empire , from Germany to Africa, and especially in the city of Rome, where they totalled over 415 kilometres (258 mi). The aqueducts supplied fresh water to public baths and for drinking water, in large cities across the empire, and set a standard of engineering that was not surpassed for more than a thousand years. Bridges, built in stone with multiple arches, were
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#1732773272770480-656: Is called a qanat. One historic example found in Syria, the Qanat Firaun, extends over 100 kilometers. Modern aqueducts may also make extensive use of pipelines. Pipelines are useful for transporting water over long distances when it needs to move over hills, or where open channels are poor choices due to considerations of evaporation , freezing, pollution, or environmental impact. They can also be used to carry treated water . Historically, agricultural societies have constructed aqueducts to irrigate crops. Archimedes invented
520-581: Is carried into the Acequia Madre and through the connecting channels throughout parts of New Mexico. Acequias have several components that control the transport of water: Researchers affiliated with the Rio Grande Bioregions Project at Colorado College initiated a pioneering collaborative, farmer-led, and interdisciplinary study of Colorado and New Mexico acequias in 1995–99. Among the most significant findings of this study
560-590: Is dwarfed by aqueducts in the far west of the country, most notably the 242-mile (389-km) Colorado River Aqueduct , which supplies the Los Angeles area with water from the Colorado River nearly 250 miles to the east and the 701.5-mile (1,129.0 km) California Aqueduct , which runs from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta to Lake Perris . The Central Arizona Project is the largest and most expensive aqueduct constructed in
600-489: Is evident in the fact that Prior Appropriation considers water to be a commodity owned by private individuals while acequia systems treat water as a community resource that irrigators have a shared right to use, manage, and protect. The concept of a shared responsibility natural resources reflects the beliefs stemming from the Spanish and Indigenous people who brought the acequia to the U.S. The plethora of cultural behaviors and values that created acequia communities still exist in
640-468: Is still debated, but some evidence supports circa A.D. 540–552, in response to drought periods in the region. The Guayabo National Monument of Costa Rica, a park covering the largest archaeological site in the country, contains a system of aqueducts. The complex network of uncovered and covered aqueducts still functions well. The aqueducts are constructed from rounded river stones, which are mostly made of volcanic rock . The civilization that constructed
680-761: Is the oldest form of European resource management still alive in the United States today. Acequias are filled by snow melt and rain to water orchards, gardens, and other agricultural fields. Other than watering crops, acequias have deep cultural significance for many Indigenous and Native communities in New Mexico and Colorado. The Spanish word acequia (and the Catalan word séquia ) originate from Arabic word al-sāqiyah ( الساقیة ) which has more than one meaning: "the water conduit" or "one that bears water" as well as 'bartender' (from سَقَى saqā , "to give water, drink"), and also refers to
720-675: The Al Ain Oasis , in present-day Abu Dhabi Emirate , uses rills as part of its qanat water system. Sometimes in the Spanish language they are called Acequias . Rills are also used for aesthetic purposes in landscape design. Rills are used as narrow channels of water inset into the pavement of a garden , as linear water features , and often tiled and part of a fountain design. The historical origins are from paradise garden religious images that first translated into ancient Persian Gardens . Rills were later exceptionally developed in
760-639: The Andes , northern Mexico , and the modern-day American Southwest (northern New Mexico and southern Colorado ). Scholars describe acequias as "technological systems that are designed, maintained, and operated to meet a variety of productive goals, social services, and health needs, with the practice of irrigated agriculture being of paramount importance." In the United States , the oldest acequias were established more than 400 years ago by Spanish colonizers. The traditional form of governance over acequias
800-954: The Moorish (Spanish) Gardens of Al-andalus , such as at the Alhambra in Granada ; and also in other Islamic gardens, cultures, and countries. Early 20th century examples are in the María Luisa Park gardens in Seville, Spain; and at the Casa del Herrero gardens in Montecito, California . Aqueducts sometimes run for some or all of their path through tunnels constructed underground. A version of this common in North Africa and Central Asia that has vertical wells at regular intervals
840-681: The South–North Water Transfer Project aims to connect the Yangtze River basin to Beijing through three separate systems. The project will reuse part of the Grand Canal of China . The simplest aqueducts are small ditches cut into the earth. Much larger channels may be used in modern aqueducts, for instance the Central Arizona Project uses 7.3 m (24 ft) wide channels. A major factor in
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#1732773272770880-469: The United States , the oldest acequias were established more than 400 years ago by Spanish colonizers. Many acequias continue to provide a primary source of water for farming and ranching in the region of south central Colorado known as the Upper Rio Grande watershed or Rio Arriba and some 700 in northern New Mexico continue to function. This type of governance over acequias is to date
920-528: The water screw to raise water for use in irrigation of croplands. Another use for aqueducts is to supply large cities with drinking water. They also help drought-prone areas with water supply . Some of the Roman aqueducts still supply water to Rome today. In California , United States, three large aqueducts supply water over hundreds of miles to the Los Angeles area. Two are from the Owens River area, and
960-697: The Romans, aqueducts were devised much earlier in Greece, the Near East , Nile Valley , and Indian subcontinent , where peoples such as the Egyptians and Harappans built sophisticated irrigation systems. The Aztecs and Incans also built such systems independently later. Roman-style aqueducts were used as early as the 7th century BC, when the Assyrians built an 80 km long limestone aqueduct, which included
1000-455: The United States. While prior doctrines allow for water to be sold away from the basin of origin, the acequia system prohibits the transference of water from the watershed in which it is situated and thus considers water as an "asset-in-place". The Prior regime is based on a governance regime in which the members of a mutual ditch company will vote based on their proportional ownership of shares so that larger farmers have more votes. In contrast,
1040-787: The United States. It stretches 336 miles from its source near Parker, Arizona to the metropolitan areas of Phoenix and Tucson . An aqueduct in New Zealand, "the Oamaru Borough Race", was constructed in the late 19th century to deliver water (and water-power) about 50 km from the Waitaki River at Kurow to the coastal town of Oamaru . In Spain, the Tagus-Segura Water Transfer system of aqueducts opened in 1979 and transports water 286 kilometres (178 mi) from north to south. In China,
1080-441: The acequia system follows a "one farmer, one vote" system that has led researchers to consider this a form of "water democracy". Acequia law also requires that all persons with irrigation rights participate in the annual maintenance of the community ditch including the annual spring time ditch cleanup known as the limpieza y saca de acequia . Transvasement An aqueduct is a watercourse constructed to carry water from
1120-549: The aqueduct system remains a mystery to archaeologists; it is suspected that Guayabo's aqueducts sat at a point of ancient cultural confluence between Aztecs, Mayans, and Incas. When Europeans saw the Aztec capital Tenochtitlan , early in the 16th century, the city was watered by two aqueducts. One of these, Chapultepec aqueduct , built c. 1420 , was rebuilt by the Spanish almost three hundred years later. Originally tracing part of its path over now-gone Lake Texcoco , only
1160-529: The city streets. However, these acequias were originally dug by the Indigenous Huarpes long before the arrival of the Spanish. The introduction of acequias by the Muslims allowed for more agricultural diversity, with crops such as sugar cane and citrus fruits introduced. The system of the acequia has changed over time to avoid incidents of the resource from being overused or under-maintained. In
1200-441: The community associations, or acequia associations, that govern members' water usage, depending on local precedents and traditions. An acequia organization often must include commissioners and a majordomo who administers usage of water from a ditch, regulating which holders of water rights can release water to their fields on which days. In New Mexico , by state statute, acequias as registered bodies must have three commissioners and
1240-493: The design of all open channels is its gradient. A higher gradient allows a smaller channel to carry the same amount of water as a larger channel with a lower gradient, but increases the potential of the water to damage the aqueduct's structure. A typical Roman aqueduct had a gradient of about 1:4800. A constructed functional rill is a small canal or aqueduct of stone, brick, concrete, or other lining material, usually rectilinear in cross section , for water transportation from
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1280-532: The earth. Much larger channels may be used in modern aqueducts. Aqueducts sometimes run for some or all of their path through tunnels constructed underground. Modern aqueducts may also use pipelines. Historically, agricultural societies have constructed aqueducts to irrigate crops and supply large cities with drinking water. The word aqueduct is derived from the Latin words aqua ( water ) and ductus ( led or guided ). Although particularly associated with
1320-430: The exact elevation between the two reservoirs and the exact gradient of the canal to such fine precision had been lost with the fall of the civilization in 13th Century. Modern aqueducts are a central part of many countries' water distribution infrastructure. The United States' aqueducts are some of the world's largest. The Catskill Aqueduct carries water to New York City over a distance of 120 miles (190 km), but
1360-531: The maintenance of a strong land and water ethic and sense of place, among other ecological and economic base values. This pioneering research on acequia ecosystem services , led by environmental anthropologist Devon G. Peña, has more recently been confirmed in other studies, e.g. Fernald, Baker & Guldan (2007) , Fernald et al. (2010) , Fernald et al. (2015) , Raheem et al. (2015) . Known among water users simply as "the Acequia", various legal entities embody
1400-525: The most meaningful stemmed from the Muslims that ruled parts of Spain for as long as eight centuries. Their ways of life influenced the Spanish and changed the way agriculture was done in Spain. Acequias were later adopted by the Spanish and Portuguese ( levadas on Madeira Island ) and were utilized throughout their own colonies. Similar structures already existed in places such as Mendoza and San Juan , Argentina where acequias today run along both sides of
1440-439: The oldest depiction of European resource management still active in the United States today. Acequias are gravity chutes , similar in concept to flumes . Some acequias are conveyed through pipes or aqueducts, of modern fabrication or decades or centuries old (see transvasement ). For the system to function properly the channel must have a good gradient to maintain the flow of water. When rainfall and snowmelt start to flow it
1480-631: The sites of present-day Hampi, Karnataka . The massive aqueducts near Tungabhadra River supplying irrigation water were once 15 miles (24 km) long. The waterways supplied water to royal bath tubs. In Oman from the Iron Age , in Salut, Bat, and other sites, a system of underground aqueducts called falaj or qanāts were constructed, a series of well-like vertical shafts, connected by gently sloping horizontal tunnels. There are three types of falaj: These enabled large scale agriculture to flourish in
1520-543: The temples, homes, and gardens of Petra's citizens. Walking through the Siq , one can easily spot the remains of channels that directed water to the city center, as well as durable retention dams that kept powerful flood waters at bay. On the island of Samos , the Tunnel of Eupalinos was built during the reign of Polycrates (538–522 BC). It is considered an underground aqueduct and brought fresh water to Pythagoreion for roughly
1560-625: The valued acequia. The customary law of the acequia is older than and at variance with the Doctrine of Prior Appropriation , and the statutes promulgating acequia water law represent a rare instance of water pluralism in the context of Western water law in the United States (see Hicks & Peña (2003) ). For example, the Doctrine of Prior Appropriation is based on the principle of "first in use, first in right", while acequia norms incorporate not just priority but principles of equity and fairness. This
1600-523: Was that the acequia farms provide vital ecosystem and economic base services to the regions in which they are located. One study, as reported in Peña, Boyce & Shelley (2003) , found that acequia agroecosystems promote soil conservation and soil formation , provide terrestrial wildlife habitat and movement corridors. They also protect water quality and fish habitat, promote the conservation of domesticated biodiversity of land race heirloom crops, and encourage
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