Troubled southern NM water utility reports progress

SUNLAND PARK — A beleaguered water utility serving nearly 20,000 people in Santa Teresa, Sunland Park and southern Doña Ana County reported progress Monday on correcting deficiencies in assuring safe drinking water cited by the New Mexico Environment Department.

The Camino Real Regional Utility Authority, or CRRUA, announced it had corrected 55 out of 58 issues reported in the NMED’s 2023 Sanitary Survey Inspection, detailing its responses on a progress checklist posted on the utility’s website, with the latest developments consisting of water tank inspections.

“CRRUA has made tremendous progress in upgrading the utility system for the health and safety of our customers,” Juan Carlos Crosby, the utility’s executive director, said in a written statement. “These latest corrections bring us that much closer to reaching 100% compliance in addressing the deficiencies identified by NMED in its 2023 Sanitary Survey, which results in the continued delivery of safe water and improved service.”

Nonetheless, approximately 90 CRRUA customers and community members gathered for a rally outside CRRUA’s Sunland Park offices Monday evening to voice continuing demands for accountability and compensatory measures for households dependent on a water utility that has repeatedly failed in recent years to comply with federal safety standards.

The utility’s most recent notice of violation from the state came in March, over incomplete lead and copper monitoring. It followed repeated violations in recent years, including revelations that three arsenic treatment plants had been offline and bypassed for a period exceeding a year, as ratepayers bought and consumed water with high levels of arsenic without being informed. A December 2023 “do not drink” order over high pH levels was issued three days after the utility was aware of the emergency. State agencies have also cited the utility for failures to meet deadlines to address deficiencies identified in annual inspections.

In addition to violations from the Environment Department’s Drinking Water Bureau, the federal Environmental Protection Agency has issued repeat violations of the Safe Drinking Water Act.

During 2025, the utility has posted quarterly and monthly arsenic testing results showing levels within EPA standards and has said it is now in compliance. State and federal agencies made on-site visits in February.

Nonetheless, distrust remains high among community members who continue to report discolored water, which CRRUA has explained as temporary results of repairs and maintenance work.

Vivian Fuller, a seven-year resident of Santa Teresa, said strange colors and odors have been ongoing and unpredictable. “In some areas it’s worse than others; they have more bad days than good days,” she told the Journal. “There are some changes, but there’s a long way to go. They send out messages that it’s safe to drink … but would they drink yellow or brown water?”

A group of Sunland Park residents filed a civil lawsuit last November against the utility as well as Doña Ana County and the city, which oversee the utility, founded in 2009, through a joint powers agreement.

Meanwhile, community members working in tandem with Empowerment Congress and the New Mexico Environmental Law Center have issued a list of demands from CRRUA, including delivering arsenic testing strips to every household it serves; providing clean water from a third party to its customers for six months; a moratorium on rate increases for four years; and scheduling board meetings after daytime work time hours to allow more residents to participate.

"CRRUA conducts daily monitoring and regularly scheduled testing," a spokesperson for CRRUA told the Journal. "If a change in treatment is needed, the adjustment is made quickly with follow-up monitoring and testing at an NMED-certified laboratory."

The utility claimed providing testing strips or third-party water would be a violation of the New Mexico Constitution's anti-donation clause, and that test results published on its website consistently show the water it provides as safe.