N.M. Stat. § 72-5-1
Any person, association or corporation, public or private, the state of New Mexico or the United States of America, except as provided in Section 15 [72-5-33 NMSA 1978] of this act, hereafter intending to acquire the right to the beneficial use of any waters, shall, before commencing any construction for such purposes, make an application to the state engineer for a permit to appropriate, in the form required by the rules and regulations established by him. Such rules and regulations, shall, in addition to providing the form and manner of preparing and presenting the application, require the applicant to state the amount of water and period or periods of annual use, and all other data necessary for the proper description and limitation of the right applied for, together with such information, maps, field notes, plans and specifications as may be necessary to show the method of practicability of the construction and the ability of the applicant to complete the same. The state engineer may require additional information not provided for in the general rules and regulations, in any case involving the diversion of five hundred cubic feet of water per second, or more, or in the construction of a dam more than thirty feet high from the foundation. All such maps, field notes, plans and specifications, shall be made from actual surveys and measurements, and shall be duly filed in the office of the state engineer at the time of filing of formal application for permit to appropriate; provided, that upon the filing in the office of the state engineer of a notice of intention to make formal application for a permit to appropriate certain public waters the state engineer may allow a reasonable time, to be specified by him and noted upon his records, for making the surveys, measurements, maps, plans and specifications hereinbefore provided and required for a formal application, and if applicant shall file such formal application and map, plans and specifications and other necessary data within the time so specified, his priority of application shall date from the time of filing such notice of intention.
NMS § 72-5-1