N.M. Stat. § 72-1-3

This is the official text of N.M. Stat. § 72-1-3, part of New Mexico’s Stat — part of the compiled statutory law of New Mexico, published by the state as "Stat." Browse the sections below, each linked to its official government source.

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§ 72-1-3. Declaration of water rights vested prior to 1907; form; contents; verification; filing; recording; presumption

Official statutory text

Any person, firm or corporation claiming to be an owner of a water right which was vested prior to the passage of Chapter 49, Laws 1907, from any surface water source by the applications of water therefrom to beneficial use, may make and file in the office of the state engineer a declaration in a form to be prescribed by the state engineer setting forth the beneficial use to which said water has been applied, the date of first application to beneficial use, the continuity thereof, the location of the source of said water and if such water has been used for irrigation purposes, the description of the land upon which such water has been so used and the name of the owner thereof. Such declaration shall be verified but if the declarant cannot verify the same of his own personal knowledge he may do so on information and belief. Such declarations so filed shall be recorded at length in the office of the state engineer and may also be recorded in the office of the county clerk of the county wherein the diversion works therein described are located. Such records or copies thereof officially certified shall be prima facie evidence of the truth of their contents.

Status: in_force

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About this page: Statute text is reproduced from official government publishers via the Open US Law dataset (Vaquill AI, snapshot v2026.08, CC BY 4.0). Primary legislative text like this is public domain under the government-edicts doctrine (Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org, 2020). We link every section back to its official source so you can verify it independently.