A. In matters pertaining to the public waters of this state which are pending before the state engineer for administrative action, a party may take the testimony, by deposition on oral examination or written interrogatories, of any person including a party and any personnel of the state engineer's office, except the state engineer or his designated hearing examiner, and may request that the pending matter be set for an administrative conference before the state engineer in the manner and for the purposes established for discovery and for pretrial conferences by the Rules of Civil Procedure for the district courts of New Mexico.
B. As used in this section, "party" means the applicant, the protestant and the state.