[3] Irrigation canals (acequias) built in the 19th century to divert water from the headwaters of Embudo Creek are a continuing source of controversy.

No incorporated towns or cities are in the watershed, but there are several communities: Dixon, Trampas, Peñasco, and the Picurus Pueblo are the largest.

[5][6] Settlers on the Mora grant have constructed gravity-fed irrigation ditches (acequias) to divert water from three headwaters feeder streams into the Rio Pueblo on the western side of the Sangre de Cristos to the Mora River on the eastern side.

The acequia was 8 mi (13 km) long and "constructed without the benefit of sophisticated tools and engineering know-how, accomplishing the seemingly impossible task" of bringing water from one side of the mountains to the other.

In drought years as much as one-half of the water of the Rio Pueblo is diverted to Mora County.

In 2021, that water irrigated about 1,900 acres (770 ha) of agricultural land owned by 143 users.