E. Albert Utton Memorial Water Lecture The 1907 Water Code at 100 Years Old
OCTOBER WATER QUALITY FOR THE 21st CENTURY NEW MEXICO WATER RESOURCES RESEARCH INSTITUTE 2006
G. Emlen Hall is a law professor at UNMs School of Law. He received an A.B. from Princeton University and a J.D. from Harvard University. Em is editor in chief of the Natural Resources Journal. His research and writing focus on the history of land and water in the Southwest. He has written two books on water issues: Four Leagues of Pecos: A Legal History of the Pecos Grant from 1800 to 1936 (1984) and High and Dry: The Texas-New Mexico Struggle for the Pecos River (2002). Prior to joining the UNM law faculty in 1983, he spent seven years at the Office of the State Engineer. During his time there, he wrote an administrative history of the Pecos River Compact from its inception in 1949 to 1974. This was the beginning of his research for his recent book, High and Dry. When Em first arrived in New Mexico in 1969, he wrote for and edited the New Mexico Review, a monthly investigative journal. He also practiced law in Pecos, where he lived, and served as village planner, attorney, and municipal judge for the Village of Pecos. He has worked for Northern New Mexico Legal Services and the New Mexico Land Grant Demonstration Project.
ALBERT E. UTTON MEMORIAL WATER LECTURE
THE 1907 WATER CODE AT 100 YEARS OLD
G. Emlen Hall UNM School of Law 1117 Stanford NE Albuquerque, NM 87131-1431 Over the last couple of years weve celebrated many birthdays. Last years conference celebrated the 50th anniversary of the WRRI itself. Cathy Ortega Klett tossed a coin to select the Utton lecturer for that celebration. Chuck DuMars won last years honor, and I drew this years Utton slot. It wasnt such a good deal for you. Youve had to suffer me two years in a row. Last year you had to listen to me on the late 19th century decentralized administration of New Mexico water and our return to it in the 21st century in the form of the Active Water Rights Management regulations. This year, in this Utton lecture, I want to get ready to celebrate with you the 100th anniversary of the venerable 1907 water code. My theme today is continuity and change, wisdom and restraint, in New Mexicos basic water law, a law that is still basically embodied in that ancient code which now applies to a water world the authors of it never could have imagined. However, before I start down that path with you this morning, tracing the sources of the 1907 code, Id like to recognize the source of this annual lecture, Al Utton. As many of you here know, Utton was a distinguished law professor. For almost as long as Steve Reynolds was State Engineer, Utton served as a member of the Interstate Stream Commission. He frequently spoke in public before there were Utton 135
G. Emlen Hall lectures, and he always began his lectures in a special way, by naming those members of the audience who already were leaders in the world of New Mexico water. Im not as well connected as Al Utton was, and Im certainly not as Were so used to the good at rememmythic figure of the State bering names as he was. But I have Engineer in our resource been around the lives that we tend to forget world of New who brought him and the Mexico water for 35 years now, and changes that he wrought. in Als spirit Id like The 1907 water code to recognize this brought him in the form morning some of that we know the office the great people here who also have today. been around this wonderful water world for a long time. Today, I see in the audience Mary Utton, Als wife, and I see their son, John, himself a...
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