2018 New Mexico Statutes
Chapter 17 - Game and Fish and Outdoor Recreation
Article 4 - Propagation of Fish and Game
Section 17-4-14 - Reduction in flow of water detrimental to fish in stream prohibited.]

No person owning or controlling any reservoir, lake or body of water into which public waters flow and which furnishes the water supply in whole or in part to any stream containing game fish shall divert or lessen such water in flow or supply to an extent detrimental to the fish in such stream, reservoir, lake or body of water.

History: Laws 1912, ch. 85, § 65; Code 1915, § 2488; C.S. 1929, § 57-307; 1941 Comp., § 43-412; 1953 Comp., § 53-4-12.

United States held not liable for injuries from dredging canals. — Where the United States, acting through the bureau of reclamation, dredged and removed from the canals and ditches the silt and deposits which had accumulated therein over the years, and as a natural consequence of these dredging operations, the water in appellee's ponds seeped back into the irrigation canals and the ponds were emptied, the trial court, citing this section, concluded that the act of the defendant in draining the plaintiff's property of all water, destroying plaintiff's fish and frogs, and leaving the plaintiff's land an arid desert land, constituted negligence per se. However, the court of appeals held that liability under the federal Tort Claims Act is not carte blanche, that the United States is liable as an individual only in the manner and to the extent to which it has consented, and that the facts fell clearly within the area of the exempted "discretionary function." United States v. Gregory, 300 F.2d 11 (10th Cir. 1962).

Bodies of water covered. — All reservoirs, lakes and other bodies of water into which public waters flow are covered by this section. 1947-48 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 5111.