New Mexico Office of the State Engineer

New Mexico Office of the State Engineer

Santa Fe Office
130 South Capitol Street
Concha Ortiz y Pino Building
P.O. Box 25102
Santa Fe, NM 87504-5102
505-827-6150

Deming District Office
301 South Tin
Deming, NM 88031
575-546-2851

The Office of the State Engineer is charged with administering the state’s water resources. The State Engineer has power over the supervision, measurement, appropriation, and distribution of all surface and groundwater in New Mexico, including streams and rivers that cross state boundaries. The State Engineer is also Secretary of the Interstate Stream Commission.

The Joe M Stell Water Ombudsman Program

The Joe M Stell Water Ombudsman Program

The Water Ombudsman Program at the University of New Mexico Utton Center

The Utton Transboundary Resources Center
UNM School of Law
1117 Stanford NE
MSC11 6070 . 1 University of New Mexico
Albuquerque, NM 87131-0001
1-866-822-6134 (press 2)
​Darcy Bushnell – 505-277-0551 (direct line)

The primary mission of the Ombudsman Program is to educate unrepresented (pro se) parties about: 1) why they would want to actively participate in water rights adjudication, and 2) how to participate in an informed and timely fashion.

Ombudsman acts as a third party neutral advisor and can help pro se claimants understand options available to them for responding to pleadings and offers of judgment or consent orders from the state. The Ombudsman does not offer legal advice.