<P> An acequia (Spanish: (aˈθekja)) or séquia (Valencian: (ˈsɛkia)) is a community - operated watercourse used in Spain and former Spanish colonies in the Americas for irrigation . Particularly in Spain, the Andes, northern Mexico, and the modern - day American Southwest, acequias are usually historically engineered canals that carry snow runoff or river water to distant fields . It can also refer to the long central pool in a Moorish garden, such as the Generalife in the Alhambra in Southern Iberia . </P> <P> The Spanish word acequia (and Catalan séquia) comes from Classical Arabic "as - sāqiya", which has the double entendre of "the water conduit" or "one that bears water" and the "barmaid". The Romans brought the technology to Iberia during their occupation of the Iberian peninsula, then the Arabs extended their use although they are originally from Persia . The technology was adopted later by the Spanish and Portuguese (levadas on Madeira Island), utilized throughout their conquered lands, except in e.g. Mendoza, Argentina where acequias today run along both sides of all city streets but originally were dug all around by the indigenous Huarpes long before the arrival of the Spanish . </P> <P> In the United States, the oldest acequias were established more than 400 years ago; many continue to provide a primary source of water for farming and ranching ventures in areas of the United States once occupied by Spain or Mexico including the region of northern New Mexico and south central Colorado known as the Upper Rio Grande watershed or Rio Arriba (see Rivera 1998). </P> <P> Acequias are gravity chutes, similar in concept to flumes . Some acequias are conveyed through pipes or aqueducts, of modern fabrication or decades or centuries old (see transvasement). The majority, however, are simple open ditches with dirt banks . In many communities, the ditchbanks are important routes for non-motorized travel . </P>

Which of the following is not characteristic of an acequia community