Well tests part of ‘very personal’ election
Residents test their water ahead of decision between private sources or system
WATER SYSTEMS
TPOJOAQUE he well water came in milk jugs, mason jars, a plastic canister for mixed nuts, even Ziploc bags piled inside a Tupperware container.
However they arrived, the samples were destined for the same place: A laboratory in Albuquerque where they will be analyzed for iron, arsenic, nitrates, uranium and more.
But as Pojoaque Basin residents who dropped off the samples at the high school gynasium here this week well know, these tests could have higher stakes than a typical well-water test, the sort conducted across the state as many as 10 times each year.
Well owners in the basin that stretches from Pojoaque Pueblo down to the northern edge of Santa Fe will soon have to decide whether to keep using their private wells or plug into a planned multimillion-dollar regional water system as parties to the Aamodt water-rights settlement agreement.
The so-called well elections are part of a deal reached in 2010 in a contentious decadeslong lawsuit that established higher-priority water rights for four northern pueblos
under the state’s first-come, firstserved water appropriations law.
The settlement requires residents who wish to be party to the settlement to make a decision: They may continue to use their private wells, with some limitations, or connect to the estimated $261 million water utility to be constructed by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation to import Rio Grande water into the basin, a project that is to be substantially complete by 2024.
Santa Fe County expects a federal judge to issue a deadline for the well elections before the end of the year.
As the decision looms, some residents, not eager to sign up to pay for water use, said Thursday they had already made up their minds.
“I’ve been drinking that water forever,” said Manuel Martinez, an 87-year-old retired Pojoaque business owner, after dropping off a sample Thursday. “It’s good water. I don’t see no reason to stop.”
Others were more circumspect.
“I’m leaning towards keeping it,” said Marcy Martinez, a retired librarian who said she has depended on her well since 1987. “But I’ve got grandchildren on the property now and I’ve got to think about them. If I’ve been told I have uranium, depending on the levels, that might get me to switch over.”
Although the results could inform a well user’s decision, Sandra Ely, the county project manager for the settlement, said a “water fair” scheduled Friday and Saturday was not intended to persuade residents to relinquish their wells and join the water system.
Rather, the event — organized by the county, the state Environment Department and Department of Health — was intended to help residents learn all they need to know.
“The choice during the well election is very personal,” Ely said. “The more information people have, the better choice they’ll be able to make.”
Dennis McQuillan, chief scientist with the state Environment Department, said the state has tested roughly 20,000 domestic wells across New Mexico since the program launched more than three decades ago. A third of the estimated 3,000 wells in the Pojoaque Basin have been tested during that time.
Around half showed high levels of uranium, McQuillan said, with arsenic and other potentially harmful constituents also appearing.
Well water should be tested every three to five years, McQuillan said, noting that many owners never obtain a test, owing to expense or inconvenience.
The free analysis provides well users the peace of mind that people who drink regulated public-system water might take for granted, he said — not only with facts about their water constituents but counsel in the event that certain levels are too high.
“This is extremely beneficial for the community to have access to these experts,” McQuillan said Thursday, gesturing around the bustling gynasium.
The free water tests will continue Saturday.
Residents in four to six weeks will receive their results by mail, including fact sheets detailing how to manage high levels of various constituents, if necessary.
Those who live outside the Pojoaque Basin also were invited to bring in water samples in for an “in-field” test. As many as 560 analysis kits were available on a first-come, first-served basis.
Marita Harides, a Tesuque resident who has used the same well since 1974, echoed many residents who came to submit samples Thursday, saying she would be reluctant to give up her well but was glad for the chance to have her water tested all the same.
“It’s never dried up; the drinking water tastes wonderful; I’ve never had a problem,” she said. “Of course I’d like to keep it, but if it turns up with arsenic, or whatever it might be, I’d definitely have to consider the change. But we’ll have to just see.”
Editor’s note: The New Mexican owner Robin Martin is party to the Aamodt litigation.