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If a Tesuque home has a domestic well, the most important water document in the sale may not be a well log or a flow test. It may be a form the seller filed with the U.S. District Court. One of the four well elections under the Aamodt settlement lets an owner keep using the well until the property changes hands. After that, the new owner connects to the county system once service is available and stops using the well for domestic purposes.
That makes the sale itself the trigger. A buyer can inherit a water decision made years earlier by someone else.
The Aamodt adjudication covers Pueblo and non-Pueblo water users in the Rio Nambe, Rio Pojoaque and Rio Tesuque watershed. Non-Pueblo wells in the Tesuque part of that basin fall within it. The system the settlement pays for is the Pojoaque Basin Regional Water System. It will treat Rio Grande water and send it through more than 150 miles of planned waterlines. Santa Fe County lists US 285 "from Pojoaque to Tesuque" and Bishop's Lodge Road among its eligible corridors.
Eligibility depends on two things: being a settlement party and being in a corridor. The county's phase map is the reference for where lines are planned. The adjudication basin and the area the pipe will actually serve are separate things, and a parcel can sit inside the first without being certain of the second.
The county's Well Election Acceptance Form, revised May 19, 2025, offers four choices.
| Election | What happens to the well | What it means for the next owner |
|---|---|---|
| Full connection | Domestic use ends upon connection, after the utility gives notice that service is available | The connection commitment is already on file |
| Indoor connection, well kept outdoors | The well is limited to outdoor use | The home is split between a water bill and a well |
| Keep the well, no connection | Domestic use continues at reduced volumes, in perpetuity | No duty to connect is passed on |
| Connect upon transfer | Domestic use continues at reduced volumes until the property is sold | The buyer connects when service is available |
Only the last row reaches past the person who signed the form. Under the settlement, the "keep well with reduced use" election carries "no obligation to connect" in perpetuity. The settlement also says a settlement party who owns a well right does not have to connect at all. The elections are what buy protection from future priority enforcement in the basin. An owner who never files one keeps the well under the decree or permit but does not get those election-based protections.
The settlement spells out the steps. When ownership transfers, the owner of record notifies the county utility in writing. Once the utility gives notice that service is available, the owner connects, transfers the Section 72-12-1 well permit to the utility, and stops domestic use of the well.
The definition of "available" has a cost test built in. Service does not count as available if the well user's cost to connect exceeds $7,000, adjusted every year since 2006 by the CPI-W inflation index. None of the county documents we reviewed explain how that indexed threshold works alongside the county's current connection assistance. It is an open question to raise early.
"New owner" is also broader than many families expect. In a March 2025 question-and-answer document, Santa Fe County was asked whether family beneficiaries who receive a property through a trust count as new owners. The county answered that under the keep-the-well-and-require-new-owners-to-connect election, they would. It defined a new owner as "any owner that is not a current owner of the property."
A Tesuque buyer whose seller chose to keep the well is still working within the settlement. Every well owner of record in the Nambé-Pojoaque-Tesuque district must install a totalizing meter, file an installation report, and submit readings to the Office of the State Engineer.
The allowed volume depends on when the well was drilled and which election was filed. No single cap applies to everyone. Under the keep-with-reduced-use election, a well that predates the basin's 1956 declaration keeps its historical use minus 15%, with a floor of 0.5 acre-feet per year. A well permitted before 1983 gets the lesser of 3.0 acre-feet or historic use, also reduced 15% with the same floor. A post-1982 well covered by the stipulation gets the lesser of 0.7 acre-feet or historic use, and anything above 0.5 is subject to priority administration. When no decree or permit states an amount, the State Engineer's rule presumes 0.7 acre-feet for most older wells and 0.5 for post-1982 wells outside the stipulation.
For a property with an orchard, a garden, or horses, the vintage of the well can matter as much as its depth. Replacement wells are possible until a connection is required. Some settlement-party replacements need county compliance paperwork and a replacement fee, set at $1,000 in the settlement and indexed.
Line locations are not fixed yet, and participation is what will fix them. Writing about the county's sign-up struggles, the Santa Fe New Mexican reported that about 300 non-Pueblo households between Española and Santa Fe had filed elections, against a county goal of 1,100. County spokesperson Stephanie Stancil told the paper:
"Neighborhoods with higher election rates are more likely to receive early-phase construction of 'last mile' service connections and meters, while areas with lower participation may not receive service in the initial phases of construction or the foreseeable future."
This ties the "upon transfer" election to geography. A buyer's duty to connect only applies once service is available, and whether service comes to a given Tesuque road depends partly on how many neighbors have opted in. The money follows the same timing. The county pays up to $10,000 toward connection for eligible residents who opt in before Phase 3 begins in their area. After that, the county estimates the full cost at $8,000 to $12,000 and says connection may not be possible once designs are final. The county's March 2025 FAQ said no rate study had been completed yet, so there is no published water rate to compare against the cost of running a well.
The county has taken this to Tesuque directly. On March 5, 2026, it joined a Tesuque Valley Community Association meeting at Tesuque Elementary, 1555 Bishop's Lodge Road, with State Engineer staff, to explain well elections and reporting deadlines.
Several dates matter to anyone writing an offer this fall, and they do not agree with each other.
Costs have climbed too. The New Mexican reported Reclamation's project ceiling at $734 million as of October 2024, with an estimate of $777.5 million by 2026, compared with a 2013 estimate of $320 million. One detail is specific to Tesuque. The design includes a "T" junction near the Village of Tesuque so the regional system can connect with the Santa Fe Basin system, and the county has hired Bohannan Huston Inc. to study the best connection point.
For a buyer under an "upon transfer" election, these dates determine how long the well stays in domestic use after closing.
When a Tesuque listing has a domestic well, these items answer most of the questions above:
Does every Tesuque home with a well have to connect to the county system? No. Under the settlement, a settlement party with an existing well right is not required to connect. A connection duty comes from choosing a connection election, including "upon transfer," or from drilling a new well after service is available.
Can an owner change an election already on file? The county's April 27, 2026 filing instructions explain how to file but do not describe how to amend or withdraw a filing. That is a question for the county and an attorney.
What if a new house is built on the same land? The county says a new house in the service area will be required to connect and pay a connection fee. Only owners of groundwater rights from prior existing wells can make a well election and receive a free connection.
This post is general information about how the Aamodt settlement works. It is not legal, tax or financial advice, so please confirm the details for your property with a water-rights attorney, the Office of the State Engineer, or Santa Fe County before relying on them.
If you are buying or selling a Tesuque home with a well, Leland Titus can help you pull the election form, permit and meter records together before the contract is signed, so the water terms are settled up front.
We pride ourselves in providing personalized solutions that bring our clients closer to their dream properties and enhance their long-term wealth.
