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.

History: 1953 Comp., § 75-1-2.1, enacted by Laws 1959, ch. 222, § 1; 1961, ch. 250, § 1.

Compiler's notes. — The provisions of Laws 1907, ch. 49, are presently compiled as 19-7-26, 72-1-1, 72-1-2, 72-1-5, 72-2-1 to 72-2-7, 72-2-9, 72-2-10, 72-3-1 to 72-3-5, 72-4-1, 72-4-13, 72-4-15, 72-4-17 to 72-4-19, 72-5-1, 72-5-3, 72-5-4, 72-5-6 to 72-5-24, 72-5-26 to 72-5-28, 72-5-33, 72-7-1 to 72-7-3, 72-8-1 to 72-8-6, 72-9-1 to 72-9-3 NMSA 1978.

Cross references. — For filing and recording of changes of ownership in water rights, see 72-1-2.1 NMSA 1978.

For the state engineer, see 72-2-1 NMSA 1978.

Effect of declarations. — Admission of the declarations called for by this section would at most satisfy the burden of going forward; it would satisfy the burden of proof only if not rebutted by the state. Because these declarations go to the flood flows, and groundwater is not a source of flood flow, there can be no relation back on such flood flow. State ex rel. Martinez v. Lewis, 1994-NMCA-100, 118 N.M. 446, 882 P.2d 37.

Community ditch commissioners do not condemn land by filing declaration of water rights hereunder. 1969 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 69-96.

Law reviews. — For article, "Water Rights Problems in the Upper Rio Grande Watershed and Adjoining Areas," see 11 Nat. Resources J. 48 (1971).

For note, "New Mexico's National Forests and the Implied Reservation Doctrine," see 16 Nat. Resources J. 975 (1976).

For article, "Prior Appropriation, Impairment, Replacements, Models and Markets," see 23 Nat. Resources J. 25 (1983).

Am. Jur. 2d, A.L.R. and C.J.S. references. — 93 C.J.S. Waters § 184.