Written by Chantal Raguin, Barnhouse Keegan Solimon & West LLP 2025 Summer Law Clerk:
On May 5, 2025, the Pueblo of Santa Ana (Pueblo) became one of the first Pueblos to be published in The Irrigation Leader, a nationally circulated magazine highlighting Western water leaders. Barnhouse Keegan Solimon & West LLP is excited to join the Pueblo in celebrating their leadership in irrigation. We also commend The Irrigation Leader’s recognition of the Pueblo’s longstanding relationship with the Rio Grande and Rio Jemez.
The Pueblo is a sovereign nation located in Sandoval County, New Mexico. The Santa Ana people (Tamayameh) have practiced agriculture on their lands since time immemorial. They have diverted the waters of the Rio Grande for various uses, including traditional uses – and the river remains essential to the Pueblo today. The river flows through the Pueblo’s land for six miles. As a defining feature of the Pueblo’s homelands and lifeways, the Rio Grande is central to the values of the Tamayameh. Its waters are used daily for cultural uses, domestic water supply, crop production, household gardens, farm animal grazing, and wildlife preservation.
Glenn Tenorio, Irrigation Program Manager for the Pueblo of Santa Ana’s Department of Natural Resources, leads the important work of managing the Pueblo’s diversions of the Rio Grande. In this role, Mr. Tenorio works closely with the various state and federal agencies that co-manage the Rio Grande and operate irrigation facilities on the Pueblo’s lands. “The use of water in the middle valley requires relationship building; coordination; and clear communication, both internally and with all our partners and stakeholders,” said Mr. Tenorio in the recently published article in The Irrigation Leader.
Under Mr. Tenorio’s leadership, the Pueblo has developed an impressive master plan to improve regional irrigation. The plan organizes the improvements into two categories. In the first category, the Pueblo improves the irrigation systems owned and operated by the Pueblo’s Water Resources Division. In the second category, the Pueblo collaborates with the state and federal agencies and the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District (MRGCD) to ensure that the facilities they operate on the Pueblo’s land remain efficient and effective. Through the master plan, the Pueblo has reconstructed dilapidated irrigation infrastructure, upgraded turnouts and check structures, and installed underground piping. These changes improve irrigation for the Pueblo and provide benefits to all water users downstream.
Looking forward, Mr. Tenorio hopes to continue building irrigation systems, partnerships, and river management plans. “My vision for the future is that our children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren continue this practice.” said Mr. Tenorio.
To support this vision, the Pueblo regularly participates along with five other middle Rio Grande Pueblos in the Coalition of the Six Middle Rio Grande Basin Pueblos, which was established in the 1980’s. The Coalition includes the Pueblos of Cochiti, Isleta, Santa Ana, Santo Domingo, San Felipe, and Sandia. Together, the Coalition works to understand and address current and future water-related issues in the middle Rio Grande Basin and develop appropriate plans to protect their prior and paramount water rights.
As the threat of extended droughts looms larger each year, the Pueblo and the Coalition continue to lead the way in collaboration and cooperative governance for a water-secure future. We are grateful to work with the Pueblo on these important issues, and we deeply appreciate their continued dedication to the rivers that sustain us all.
A copy of May issue of The Irrigation Leader can be found here: https://irrigationleadermagazine.com/volume-16-issue-5-may-5/.
Chantal Raguin is the 2025 Summer Law Clerk at BKSW. She is a rising 2L at the University of Colorado Law School, where she is a Research Assistant to the American Indian Law Program and helps lead Colorado Law’s Native American Law Student Association. Chantal grew up in rainy climates in Massachusetts and around the Northeast. In Chantal’s words, she states, she is grateful to join BKSW and is thankful to the Pueblo of Santa Ana for the deeper appreciation of water that she learned in writing this post. BKSW summer clerkships are an integral part of the firm’s practice. We thank Chantal for all her hard work and for her dedication and commitment to our practice, communities, and clients.
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