Small farms battle speculators over centuries-old water rights in drought-stricken Colorado

A small farming community is racing to secure rights that will protect the centuries-old irrigation system they need to survive.

Farmer Devon Peña poses in his field with a devotional painting of San Isidro Labrador, the patron saint of farmers.

On a sage-infused summer morning in the San Luis Valley, Robert Quintana steps from his worn silver pickup truck to check the acequia. Quintana relies on the historic ditch to irrigate his alfalfa fields—but it’s empty, only a trickle of water smudging the dirt along its cracked concrete base.

He’s certain someone has stolen his water, which the fourth-generation rancher needs to soak the 1,700 acres of hay and alfalfa he sells and feeds to 200 cattle. “This is a daily thing … when we are in a drought,” Quintana says. “Most people on these ditches are friends and family, but there’s no love when it comes to water.”

The 169-year-old San Luis Peoples’ Ditch holds the oldest water right in Colorado.

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