New Mexico, the second driest state in the USA, has never been ‘naturally green’. But it has been ‘culturally green’ for centuries, thanks to an ancient communally-managed water infrastructure known as acequias that sees water as a shared natural good, not a commodity. 

Renewed attention to such ancient systems is part of a worldwide rediscovery of “green infrastructure” vs ‘grey infrastructure”, with cities accommodating and working in harmony with water rather than trying to control it by concreting canals and building dams.