Congressional leadership seeks oversight for southern NM water utility

Apr. 30—Southern New Mexico's federal representative is trying to ensure the water in Doña Ana County is safe for people to drink by pushing for more water testing and community meetings.

For months, state officials and community members in and around Sunland Park have voiced frustration with how the local water utility, Camino Real Regional Utility Authority, or CRRUA, has handled high arsenic levels detected in its water, which can cause negative health impacts and has been linked to cancer.

The utility and state warned against drinking the water for five days in December. The next month, the New Mexico Environment Department's Drinking Water Bureau released a lengthy report detailing what the agency called systemic failures by utility management.

In March, NMED ordered the utility to pay more than $250,000 for breaking state and federal drinking water regulations, requested other state agencies to investigate the matter and sent a letter to the utility seeking more compliance information.

U.S. Rep. Gabe Vasquez, a Democrat, is seeking more transparency and oversight. He sent a letter this week to NMED asking the agency to consistently check on the water, referencing recent reporting from The Washington Post of the utility's "repeated, documented safety violations."

He asked NMED to conduct random water tests for at least a year or until there are consistently low arsenic levels, hold regular community meetings with updates and public comment opportunities, continue making water project dollars available and provide consistent updates to his office on water statue enforcement actions.

"Clean drinking water should be a right, not a privilege, which is why I am committed to working with you to ensure that all tools available to you under federal law are being used to correct the injustice that residents of Doña Ana County have been facing," Vasquez wrote.

In response to a Journal inquiry about the letter, Environment Department spokesperson Jorge Estrada said the agency's Drinking Water team is working to identify "the root causes of a string of failures leading to the arsenic exceedances."

He said since the department found the violations in December, the agency has performed random water testing, launched investigations into CRRUA's management of arsenic treatment systems and requested further state investigations.

"We look forward to continued partnership with our Congressional Delegation including advocating for increases to our federal grants which help support NMED's Drinking Water Bureau to perform the aggressive compliance work they have shown in this case," Estrada said via email.

In December, Vasquez talked with CRRUA leadership about the issues. He also wrote to the utility in February asking for an action plan but hasn't received a response, according to his office.

CRRUA couldn't be reached for comment on Tuesday.