EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) — The Camino Real Regional Utility Authority, which provides water service to Sunland Park and Santa Teresa, said its water remains safe to drink and consume despite a letter of violation it sent out to its customers earlier this month.
On May 16, the utility said it mailed a notice of violation to its customers informing them that test results for the second quarter of 2024 showed arsenic in water that exceeded the federal limit of 10 parts per billion.
CRRUA said it passed the most recent water sample test conducted by the New Mexico Environment Department and has passed five arsenic tests in a row.
The utility has been under fire for months over concerns about water quality and discolored water. Some residents have told KTSM that the issues have been going on for years.
The utility said in a news release that the letter of violation was triggered because, according to State of New Mexico guidelines, test results are based on a “running annual average.”
“That means all water utility providers in the state must pass water sample tests conducted by NMED for four consecutive quarters, each quarter being three months, before NMED will certify that arsenic levels in the drinking water are below federal limit,” the utility said.
The utility said it passed the most recent water sample test conducted by the State of New Mexico on April 3, which falls in the second quarter of the year.
“While this is positive in that the drinking water provided by CRRUA is below the maximum federal limit as verified by NMED itself, CRRUA did not meet the federal standards in water sample tests conducted in the first quarter of 2024 (January – March) and previous consecutive quarters in 2023 during the previous administration,” the utility said in its news release.
The utility said the wording in the letter that CRRUA customers received is “confusing.” The utility said the letter states that water samples taken from the Industrial Park Treatment Plant for the second quarter of the year 2023 exceeded federal limits for arsenic. That determination was based on the “running annual average” method of calculation and includes results from the previous four quarters.
“It is not based solely on the results of tests NMED conducted on April 3, 2024, which CRRUA passed,” the utility said.
The utility says the Santa Teresa Industrial Park Treatment plant is currently treating for arsenic and producing water below the EPA standard of 10 parts per billion.
The utility also said that for the second quarter of this year, it passed water sampling.
CRRUA said that in recent testing done on May 7, three of their four treatment plants were below the federal limit of 10 parts per billion.
The utility said it had excluded the Border Entry treatment plant from voluntary testing because it continues to meet all state requirements.
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