Clean Water In the News

    Taste something funny in your tap water? You may have your local government to thank.
    Municipal sewage treatment plants in Española, Santa Fe, Raton and Taos are among northern New Mexico's most frequent water polluters, according to a new report by an environmental advocacy group.
    "Facilities in New Mexico and across the country continue to dump more pollution into our waterways than is allowed by law," said Randall Coleman of Environment New Mexico.
    The group found that, in 2005, more than half of the industrial and municipal facilities across the state discharged more pollution into waterways than is allowed under their Clean Water Act permits.
    While the violations do not pose an imminent threat to public health, experts say they do put river ecosystems at risk.
    Los Alamos County's wastewater plant in Bayo Canyon had been one of the most frequent polluters, with 18 violations for discharging more fecal coliform, mercury and other substances than allowed under its permit.
    The antiquated facility was closed last week and replaced with a recently completed, $11.5 million treatment plant on Pueblo Creek. A spokeswoman said the new plant is expected to discharge far less pollutants than its permit allows.
    "We've been trying to replace this plant for a while," said Julie Williams-Hill of the Los Alamos Department of Public Utilities.
    The study was released to coincide with the 35th anniversary of the Clean Water Act, which established a system for regulating water pollution. Under the law, facilities receive permits for the amount and types of pollutants they can discharge.
    The report analyzes "major" facilities that exceeded permitted pollution limits in 2005.
    According to a Journal review of Environmental Protection Agency records, some northern New Mexico treatment facilities have spent the majority of the last three years in "noncompliance" with their Clean Water Act permits.
    Since 2004, for example, the city of Española has paid $8,700 in penalties for its plant on Paseo de Oñate, which has been in noncompliance for all but one of the last 12 quarters on record with the EPA. Española's city manager could not be reached for comment.
    The city of Raton's facility was in noncompliance for nine of the 12 quarters, though it has never had to pay a fine, according to the EPA.
    Meanwhile, Santa Fe's wastewater plant on Airport Road has been out of compliance for half of the last 12 quarters, according to the EPA.
    Ditto in Taos, where during the last quarter of 2006, fecal coliform discharges were nearly 1,000 percent higher than allowed under its permit, according to the EPA. The town of Taos paid a $1,000 federal penalty in May.
    Environment New Mexico noted that its report presents only a partial picture of the problem, since the study only analyzes major facilities and does not include pollution discharged by thousands of minor facilities across the country.