New Mexico § 72-12-23 Replacement well over one hundred feet from original

New Mexico Statutes

§ 72-12-23 — Replacement well over one hundred feet from original

New Mexico § 72-12-23

Ch. 72Water Law

Art. 12Underground Waters

This text of New Mexico § 72-12-23 (Replacement well over one hundred feet from original) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New Mexico primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook

N.M. Stat. Ann. § 72-12-23 (2026).

Text

well. A. The owner of a water right may drill and use a replacement well drilled over one hundred feet from his original well upon making application but without waiting for the completion of the publication and hearing set out in Section 72-12-3 NMSA 1978 if:

(1)the well is drilled into the same and only the same underground stream, channel, artesian basin, reservoir or lake as the original well; and (2) the appropriation is of the same amount of water allowed by his water right in the original well; and (3) an emergency situation exists in which the delay caused by publication and hearing would result in crop loss or other serious economic loss; and (4) the state engineer, after a preliminary investigation, finds the change does not impair existing water rights, and grants him a permit

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

well. A. The owner of a water right may drill and use a replacement well drilled over one hundred feet from his original well upon making application but without waiting for the completion of the publication and hearing set out in Section 72-12-3 NMSA 1978 if: (1) the well is drilled into the same and only the same underground stream, channel, artesian basin, reservoir or lake as the original well; and (2) the appropriation is of the same amount of water allowed by his water right in the original well; and (3) an emergency situation exists in which the delay caused by publication and hearing would result in crop loss or other serious economic loss; and (4) the state engineer, after a preliminary investigation, finds the change does not impair existing water rights, and grants him a permit authorizing the drilling and use of the replacement well prior to the publication and hearing. B. When the preliminary investigation by the state engineer causes him to reasonably believe that the drilling and use of a replacement well may impair existing rights, then no permit shall be issued until after publication and hearing.