State seeks to place water utility in receivership

The New Mexico Environment Department is asking a judge to place the Camino Real Regional Utility Authority into receivership in a lawsuit filed Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Sunland Park Mayor Javier Perea announced he would ask the City Council to direct $1.2 million from city reserves to clean water tanks within the city, addressing repeat incidents of discolored water delivered to CRRUA’s customers.

The mayor led a news conference at City Hall, flanked by City Manager Mario Juarez-Infante as well as CRRUA Executive Director Juan Carlos Crosby.

Since Doña Ana County initiated a four-year termination process ending the joint powers agreement that created CRRUA, Perea said he would also propose that Sunland Park establish its own city water and wastewater department.

“Starting something new is always a challenge, but … it’s more than just me who’s taking these actions. I have a team of engineers, I have a team of people who work with the city of Sunland Park,” he said. “We’ve been offering support behind the scenes. We have an understanding of what needs to be accomplished.”

The state is asking that the water utility’s daily operations, including financial and technical decisions, be assigned to an independent manager for the remainder of the joint powers agreement.

Perea declined to comment on the lawsuit, saying he had yet to read the complaint.

County commissioners voted to begin the exit process on May 13 and have since conducted two meetings with Sunland Park and CRRUA staff. Water and sewer services will continue as the parties flesh out plans to divide their assets and continue service.

Perea said it was an open question whether the city and county would take over services for their respective territories, a new independent utility would be created or whether services would be provided by a private business.

CRRUA was founded in 2009, serving nearly 20,000 New Mexicans mainly in Sunland Park and Santa Teresa, including the industrial area near a key port of entry to Mexico.

Perea promised a “seamless transition” as city and county work out the distribution of assets. “The infrastructure is already in place and won’t change,” he said. He also said he had no plans to seek tax increases to recover funds spent on CRRUA tanks.

Crosby, who took over as director in 2024, said inoperable emergency eyewash stations reported in a February federal inspection had been repaired and were being inspected regularly. The stations are required at water treatment plants where hazardous chemicals are in use.

Crosby also stressed that CRRUA’s water was safe for drinking, washing and other use, with arsenic levels in compliance with federal safety standards. A recent voluntary sample from the Santa Teresa industrial area exceeded the standard, but Crosby said the matter had been addressed and maintained the public was not at risk.

Environment Department lawsuit

In addition to placing CRRUA into receivership, the state Environment Department is seeking punitive and compensatory damages from the utility, which would be paid to a fund supporting water utilities, and a list of reparative measures for the community.

The searing complaint describes CRRUA as “functionally incapable of meeting the most basic responsibilities of a public water and wastewater provider,” citing a history of safety violations since its inception, resulting in the utility supplying water with dangerous levels of arsenic to businesses, homes and schools while delaying corrective actions.

Perhaps most seriously, the complaint outlines repeat instances in which it said the utility knowingly bypassed some arsenic treatment facilities without notifying the Environment Department or the public.

In March, the state issued a violation notice after CRRUA fell short of lead and copper monitoring requirements, and showed higher than permitted arsenic levels in at least two voluntary samples in April and May.

The complaint also seeks a court order directing CRRUA to pay for a third-party evaluation of its arsenic treatment systems, enact real-time monitoring of arsenic levels and provide safe water from an outside source when arsenic levels exceed safe thresholds.

On behalf of communities, the lawsuit requests that CRRUA hold its board meetings at 5:30 p.m. and guarantee public participation, while paying for community-based health assessments for treating chronic arsenic exposure.

It also asks the court to direct CRRUA to provide arsenic testing strips to all of its customers, a measure that local residents and community groups have also called for.

The utility has rejected that request as cost-prohibitive and unsafe, because the test strips contain mercury and come with detailed safety protocols. On Wednesday, Crosby added that conditions within households could lead to erroneous results.