Los Lunas plant pulls request for more water
Niagara Bottling plan faced opposition
LOS LUNAS — Niagara Bottling withdrew its request with the village of Los Lunas to amend its water/wastewater agreement last week — much to the delight of those who opposed it.
Niagara Bottling wanted to increase the amount of water it used so it could double production at the plant. While the current agreement says the company can use up to 285 acre-feet of water per year, the proposed agreement asked the village to increase that to 650 acre-feet — more than 200 million gallons of water per year.
Niagara Bottling didn’t respond to request for comment from the News-Bulletin.
Los Lunas Mayor Charles Griego said the water rights Niagara has in place are leased. The lease of water is done through Public Service Company of New Mexico, according to the current agreement.
“This is something that’s approved by the state engineer,” Griego said. “The state engineer allows it, and I think the state engineer is the one who has jurisdiction over water rights and transfers of water rights and diversion of water rights.
“What we do is we provide the water to them, and they discharge into our sewer system, which we treat also. They are billed like a regular customer.”
Clayton Ten Eyck, a water engineer with Molzen Corbin, examined the village’s water systems before this proposed agreement was brought up in late January. Griego said he looked at how the village’s water systems would be strained by a possible increase in production from Niagara.
The mayor pointed to Well 3, which is being redeveloped, and Well 7, which is under construction, as reasons for concern about diverting water.
“So basically, it creates a strain on our village system in the event of a high water use period — basically, a hot summer,” Griego said.
Under the current and proposed agreement, Niagara was to “transfer suitable water rights into the village’s wells by lease instead of by purchase to offset their water consumption.” Niagara had planned to lease those additional water rights through PNM again.
Griego said he feels relieved the proposed agreement fell through, adding that the village doesn’t control the water rights portion of it. He believes the village was getting unnecessary backlash, saying community members don’t fully understand the process.
“I felt relieved to put it that way,” Griego said. “There are parts and systems where we do have control over the issue, basically with the delivery and treatment of water.
“We do not control the water rights portion of it; that was done by the state engineer. But I think that was the main issue that we were getting beat up over and also the depletion of the aquifer, which I totally understand, but we do not have jurisdiction over that.”
After Niagara first proposed a new agreement with the village, opponents protested at Daniel Fernandez Memorial Park on Feb. 9.
They called on the Village Council and Niagara not to reach an agreement that would increase water use at the plant. More than 16 organizations, including Valencia Water Watchers and Southwest Organizing Project, rallied together to protest what they said was a bad deal. They say there already is a lack of water in New Mexico.