A volunteer hands out bottled water to people fleeing wildfires in Ruidoso on Aug. 19, 2024. The fires partially destroyed drinking water infrastructure for the Village. The state sent letters to 138 drinking water systems to address outstanding violations, which are increased by climate change and other threats, officials said. (Danielle Prokop / Source NM)
New Mexico environment officials put more than 100 drinking water systems on notice last week that they need to provide plans to address drinking water deficiencies by mid-August or potentially face steep fines.
The 138 letters sent on July 29 by the New Mexico Environment Department declare that those drinking water systems responsible for sending water to at least 100,000 New Mexicans still haven’t fixed current outstanding water quality violations.
Once they receive the letter, the parties have 15-days to send their plans to resolve their issues with the state.
The letters are part of a strategy from the newly-minted director of the Compliance and Enforcement division, Bruce Baizel. The list of all 138 water systems was forwarded to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Region 6 office in Dallas, and both the state auditor and attorney general’s offices.
Baizel said that the problems with water systems range from quality issues such as excessive levels of fluoride in Lordsburg. There are also administrative failures to submit testing or inspection paperwork and file public notices, like Pecan Park MDWCA in Luna county.
Failing to submit a plan means the water system could be fined $1,000 per day, the maximum penalty under state law.
Baizel said drinking water is facing both existential threats like climate change, weather disasters and fires. Water services in smaller places also have technical barriers, he said, in their responsibility to treat water and repair its infrastructure.
“This is a dry state generally, and we have a lot of small systems,” he said. “We thought this was a way to both draw attention, to get systems up to where they need to be, and to identify those that really need some effort and more work.
He said issuing the notices was sparked, in part, by the findings that the Camino Real Regional Utility Authority (CRRUA) sent arsenic last year to thousands of New Mexicans in Sunland Park, Santa Teresa and Southern Doña Ana county – without telling the public or the state.
“The focus would have come regardless of CRRUA,” Baizel said. “But I think it did alert us that this should be a higher priority, sooner.”
Nearly half of the water systems, about 70, submitted responses to the letters, he said. At the end of the 15 days, mid-week or so in the third week of August, the department will release a list of all the utilities that sent in plans and also publicly name those that failed to comply.
When asked how to keep utilities from passing the fine onto customers, Baizel said water systems may not have to pay a full fine price, even if they fail to submit a plan, if they come to the negotiation table and settle for a smaller sum.
“Lawsuits take time and money,” Baizel said. “Sometimes it’s better to be talking and getting it done sooner, so that the water is safe sooner – that’s worth something.”
There was one error in an interactive map the New Mexico Environment Department released to track the letters, which showed that the City of Las Vegas municipal water system received a letter. Drew Goretzka, a spokesperson for the environment department, later confirmed it was an inaccuracy. The map has been updated as of Friday Aug. 9, at 11:30 a.m.
Messages and emails were sent to the City of Las Vegas for comment. We will update if we receive a response.
The agency said more than 100,000 people get their drinking water from the 138 water systems.
The letters are just the start of enforcement, Baizel said, adding that he expects to see stricter penalties levied at larger water systems in the coming weeks.
“There are a number of larger systems, or systems that have significant health risks that we didn’t send letters to, because we’re going to be taking administrative action against them,” Baizel said, adding that he could not provide very many details at this time.
‘We’re not going to be the outlier’
At least one small system operator said he’s planning his response.
Jason Smallwood, who operates water for the Philmont Boy Scout Ranch said the base camp is investing in a new treatment system that he said should eliminate water quality issues caused from byproducts of treatment chemicals called TTHM-1 and HAA5-1.
“The letter is what it is – it’s not that big of deal,” Smallwood said. “We’re going to address it and tell the state what we’re planning on doing to deal with it.”
“Hopefully, sending it out can help other people,” Smallwood added.
Beyond the base camp, which has had three drinking water violations, according to enforcement records and the drinking water watch records.
Smallwood, who’s held the position for two years, said Philmont is complicated, because it has 35 separate “systems” which can often just mean one sink and several spigots fed by a tank.
He said the state’s map shows that the systems have 92 violations in total, but added that most of them are not about the water quality, but inspection and paperwork issues regarding the far-flung water tanks.
Recently, he’s attended further trainings, and pointed to a record of decreased violations at the base camp’s water system. Smallwood said Philmont is spending money to put in new systems and working to address the contamination problems. He predicts a reckoning for water systems across the state.
“We’re not going to be the outlier,” he said. “We may look like it because of the state’s website, but there’s tons of water systems that are in way worse shape than ours.”
More outreach
Source NM sought comment from 10 water systems that received a violation notice letter from the New Mexico Environment Department.
We called and left messages with the following water systems: Lordsburg Water Supply System, Pecan Park MDWCA in Luna County, the Otis MDWCA in Eddy County and the Doña Ana MDWCA.
Marlina Manzanares-Salazar at Santa Cruz Water Association could not be reached for comment.
When reached by phone, Matt Harrison with the Cassandra Water System in Moriarty agreed to an interview but did not respond to phone calls at the scheduled time.
Craig Pilley at Navajo Dam Domestic Water Consumers Inc. said he had been on vacation for the past two weeks and was unaware the state had sent letters. He agreed to an interview at a later date.
Oscar Diaz with the Belen Water System agreed to an interview at a later date.
We’ll publish updates as more drinking water systems respond.
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