New Mexico Supreme Court Upholds Domestic Well Statute

In a case that received nationwide attention, Bounds v. New Mexico, the New Mexico Supreme Court has held that the state’s domestic well statute is constitutional. Specifically, the Court found that the domestic well statute does not violate the doctrine of prior appropriation or the due process clause. Numerous other states across the West, including Texas, have similar statutes that allow domestic well permits to be granted without the usual procedural steps required to obtain a water permit. You can read the entire opinion here.
  Source

  From the opinion, here is what the court found: 

Horace Bounds is a rancher and farmer in the Mimbres basin in southwestern New Mexico, a fully appropriated and adjudicated basin. Bounds, joined by the New Mexico Farm and Livestock Bureau (collectively Petitioners), brought a facial constitutional challenge against the New Mexico Domestic Well Statute (DWS), NMSA 1978, Section 72- 12-1.1 (2003), which requires the State Engineer to issue domestic well permits without determining the availability of unappropriated water. Petitioners contend that the DWS violates the New Mexico constitutional doctrine of prior appropriation as well as due process of law. Petitioners’ arguments persuaded the district court but not the Court of Appeals, which reversed in a published opinion. Agreeing with the substance of that opinion, we affirm the Court of Appeals. For the reasons that follow, we hold that the DWS does not violate either the doctrine of prior appropriation set forth in the New Mexico Constitution or the guarantees of due process of law.