I would really like to see the appropriate end to the Aamodt lawsuit. My feelings have been expressed in many ways: in a My View published in March of 2006; by hand-delivering pages of signatures for the Acequia Madre de Tesuque parciantes to the clerk at the federal courthouse; by attending endless meetings concerning Aamodt during my 12 years as mayordomo of Acequia Madre de Tesuque and two years as a ditch commissioner.

But, most importantly, as the person responsible for maintaining the water-sharing agreement between our downstream neighbor, Tesuque Pueblo and four acequias. This agreement has been maintained flawlessly for the past 13 years, through the drought years as well as the bountiful ones. In essence, this is a simple agreement based upon mutual trust and respect.

We upstream users have voluntarily shut off whenever the surface flow of the Río Tesuque drops below what is needed to irrigate cultivated pueblo land. This procedure has functioned by direct communication between myself and my counterpart at Tesuque Pueblo for 13 years at no cost whatsoever, other than the expenditure of our time.

During this same period, untold millions of dollars have been paid in legal fees toward settlement of the Aamodt suit, with no mention of our water-sharing agreement.

Speaking of millions of dollars, the proposal to burden taxpayers, and especially homeowners, of Santa Fe County, the city of Santa Fe and the state of New Mexico, with tens of millions of dollars for a pipeline into Tesuque is ludicrous at best.

A Santa Fe County map dated Sept. 22, 2008, titled "Lower Bishop's Lodge" identifies 337 perfectly clean and reliable wells. So why on God's green earth would we pay to bring treated, expensive Río Grande water uphill to the Bishop's Lodge, when there exists an 8-inch water line already in place from Brownell Howland Road?

Futhermore, about 95 percent of domestic water winds up in septic tanks, so this proposed Río Grande water line will result in additional septic impact upon our already existing clean and reliable water supply and threaten wells in our beautiful Tesuque Valley.

Visualize the Santa Fe County Courthouse money pit, costing $15,000 a month to pay the contractor for doing nothing while an avoidable environmental concern is addressed. This is directly owing to the cavalier attitude of Santa Fe County regarding environmental and subsequent financial concerns. The lack of proper foresight will now cost taxpayers of New Mexico and Santa Fe County millions in the Aamodt settlement.

The same lack of respect is systematic throughout the county's approach to the Aamodt pipeline: no environmental-impact statement, no business plan, no customer base, unclear water rights and no dialogue with anyone who is not a "yes" person.

This is my opinion, but I strongly support a pueblo-only Aamodt settlement, hopefully before another 43 years passes!

Patrick R. Beasley is mayordomo of the Acequia Madre de Tesuque.