José Rivera is a research scholar at the Center for Regional Studies, University of New Mexico, and professor of planning at the School of Architecture and Planning. His research interests include common property resources, the culture of water, and the role of mutual aid organizations in social welfare. In 1991 he co-authored a book on Rural Environmental Planning for Sustainable Development, Island Press. In 1998 he authored Acequia Culture: Water, Land, andCommunity in the Southwest published by the UNM Press. A Spanish language translation was published in 2009 by the University of Valencia in Spain, titledLa Cultura de la Acequia. His most recent book was published in 2010 by the UNM Press: La Sociedad–Guardians of Hispanic Culture Along the Río Grande.