CRRUA under scrutiny again for water quality issues
EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) — The Camino Real Regional Utility Authority (CRRUA) remains under scrutiny for water quality issues in Southern New Mexico and has been fined more than $250,000 by the State of New Mexico in a continuation of a long-simmering saga over its water service. CRRUA has failed a water sampling test conducted […] The Camino Real Regional Utility Authority (CRRUA) in Southern New Mexico has been fined more than $250,000 by the State of New Mexico for failing a water sampling test conducted by the New Mexico Environment Department (NED). The test was conducted after NMED conducted 10 unannounced samplings at CRRUA’s arsenic treatment facilities. One sample showed levels of arsenic above the federal standard of 10 parts per billion. The Environment Department also issued $251,580 in penalties against CRR UA for violations of federal and state drinking water standards. The violations included failure to notify NMED that the arsenic treatment plants in the Industrial Park area, Sunland Park and Santa Teresa were offline for a year. Despite these failures, the utility has been working hard to address the issues.
ที่ตีพิมพ์ : เมื่อ เดือนที่แล้ว โดย Oriana Bottaro ใน Environment
EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) — The Camino Real Regional Utility Authority (CRRUA) remains under scrutiny for water quality issues in Southern New Mexico and has been fined more than $250,000 by the State of New Mexico in a continuation of a long-simmering saga over its water service.
CRRUA has failed a water sampling test conducted by the New Mexico Environment Department (NMED), according to the a news release posted by the department on its website.
The water utility, which serves Santa Teresa and Sunland Park, has faced criticism from its customers for months over water quality including discolored water.
The failed test came after NMED conducted 10 unannounced samplings at CRRUA’s arsenic treatment facilities.
One sample, collected from the Industrial Park area in Santa Teresa, showed levels of arsenic above the federal standard of 10 parts per billion.
Last month, the Environment Department issued $251,580 in penalties against CRRUA for violations of federal and state drinking water standards.
Among the violations were failure to notify NMED that the arsenic treatment plants in the Industrial Park area, Sunland Park and Santa Teresa were offline and intentionally bypassed for a year.
People who live or work in the Industrial Park area of Santa Teresa have had to deal with the consequences of untreated water. KTSM spoke to an employee from the popular Penny’s Diner who also works at the nearby Travelodge by Wyndham.
“There are a few railroaders that say sometimes their skin is a lot drier than it was. They get itchy from it (water), and I just received reports that the arsenic in this area is higher than it’s supposed to be. So unfortunately, that is what we are dealing with now with the water situation,” Valeria Flores said.
Flores says she has been working at the diner for three years and she began noticing changes in the water in December, so much so that Penny’s Diner was forced to shut down for two weeks in December because they did not know if the water was safe.
The Industrial Park area of Santa Teresa has been one of the fastest growing parts of the state in recent years and that in turn has created concern about water quality.
“The community here is suffering with water. People are scared to drink their water because they don’t know if they are going to get cancer later in the years or anything,” Flores said.
New Mexico Environment Department issued its report about the failed test two days after CRRUA issued a news release on Tuesday, March 26, saying it has made progress in addressing deficiencies identified in a survey of the utility by the state back in December.
In that December report, NMED said it had found 58 deficiencies during a survey of CRRUA’s
operations. NMED identified four main “priorities” for the utility: one of them addressing the high levels of arsenic in the water supply.
On March 26, KTSM spoke to a representative from CRRUA who said they have been working hard to fix the issues.
“The first thing they did was bring in a New Mexico certified operator in water and wastewater, properly trained to operate arsenic treatment facilities,” CRRUA spokesman Udell Vigil. “This person went through our systems and identified things that needed to be fixed.”
Vigil added: “We have all four treatment facilities operating properly and we have brought the arsenic levels down below 10 parts per billion.”
KTSM tried to reach out to CRRUA again to ask them about the failed test but we did not hear back.
A hydrologist at the New Mexico Water Science Center said arsenic in drinking water is not uncommon in this area, but it is supposed to be filtered out to safe levels to prevent people from getting sick.
“If you are drinking that water every day for years, that could be where you can run into problems,” said hydrologist Johanna Burke. “It can cause cancer, cardiovascular
disease, diabetes. There’s several things that can happen depending on exposure.”
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