Uploaded June 2026 | Updated September 2026, 45 minutes ago
This National Rivers Month, we’re introducing you to two farmers whose lives are deeply connected to the Rio Grande basin, one of North America’s most threatened river basins.
In the Santa Cruz Valley of New Mexico Don Bustos has spent a lifetime practicing acequia farming, sharing water in one of the dryest places in the United States. Rooted in generations of knowledge, acequias depend on cooperation, transparency, and the understanding that every drop impacts the whole community.
As water scarcity intensifies, Bustos sees not a breaking point, but an invitation for everyone to embrace the same principle that has sustained his community for centuries: "when one of us drinks, we all drink."
© Zac Shamah
© Madalen Howard/WWF-US
© Diana Cervantes/WWF-US
This National Rivers Month, we’re introducing you to two farmers whose lives are deeply connected to the Rio Grande basin, one of North America’s most threatened river basins.
In the Santa Cruz Valley of New Mexico Don Bustos has spent a lifetime practicing acequia farming, sharing water in one of the dryest places in the United States. Rooted in generations of knowledge, acequias depend on cooperation, transparency, and the understanding that every drop impacts the whole community.
As water scarcity intensifies, Bustos sees not a breaking point, but an invitation for everyone to embrace the same principle that has sustained his community for centuries: "when one of us drinks, we all drink."
© Zac Shamah
© Madalen Howard/WWF-US
© Diana Cervantes/WWF-US
