All natural waters flowing in streams and watercourses, whether such be perennial, or torrential, within the limits of the state of New Mexico, belong to the public and are subject to appropriation for beneficial use. A watercourse is hereby defined to be any river, creek, arroyo, canyon, draw or wash, or any other channel having definite banks and bed with visible evidence of the occasional flow of water.
§ 72-1-1 NMSA 1978
Natural waters; public
Applied in 5 court decisions — leading case Colorado v. New Mexico (1982)
Most recently applied in New Mexico v. General Electric Co. (April 2004)
Laws 1907, ch. 49, § 1; Code 1915, § 5654; C.S. 1929, § 151-101; Laws 1941, ch. 126, § 1; 1941 Comp., § 77-101; 1953 Comp., § 75-1-1.
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
Official source: NMOneSource (New Mexico Compilation Commission). Reproduced from public-domain New Mexico statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.