This two-part presentation will describe the history and current program of the Utton Transboundary Resources Center at the University of New Mexico School of Law and then discuss paradoxes in the public comments to the New Mexico State Water Plan.  New Mexico is a prior appropriation state.  The legal doctrines of beneficial use and priority administration are the keystones of the state's Water Code.  Yet public comments provided in the state's water planning process highlighted ambivalence in  the enforcement of priorities and problems with the doctrine of beneficial use.  These issues will be discussed as an example of difficulties and conflicts in water administration in water-short times.