Dona Ana County ends troubled water utility, promises improvements won't be immediate
SANTA TERESA, N.M. (KFOX14/CBS4) — In a news conference, Dona Ana County addresses its decision to terminate the troubled water utility, adding that changes won’t happen overnight.
Dona Ana County held a press conference Friday morning to explain to people what to expect now that it has decided to end the Camino Real Regional Utility Authority, the water utility that services Sunland Park and Santa Teresa.
“We know how frustrating it has been for many people in our community, and we’re here to take the meaningful steps forward in improving our water and wastewater services that have been delivered by CRRUA,” said District 1 Commissioner Chris Schaljo-Hernandez.
When asked why CRRUA was terminated this week, after the water utility had been plagued with issues for years, Schaljo-Hernandez responded,
“I don’t want to say there was any straw that broke the camel’s back or anything like that. But at the end, in this day and age, in this time with our current county management, our current County administrators, with our board, we decided that this was the only path forward.”
What could people expect next, now that CRRUA is terminated?
First, Dona Ana County officials said they are having HDR, an engineering company, review CRRUA’s infrastructure, which will inform how the County moves forward with its plans.
Secondly, County officials said they are exploring the possibility of creating water bottle filling stations with their filtration systems to give people access to clean, safe drinking water.
Third, they said they want to possibly establish a bilingual call center for people to report issues.
Also, Dona Ana County want to keep the community up to speed with an online and social media campaign and community meetings.
As questions remain up in the air, Dona Ana County officials hope to have more answers after their meeting on Tuesday.
In the meantime, KFOX14/CBS4 reached out to CRRUA, however, they didn’t respond in time for this report.
WATCH FULL PRESSER:
The press conference was held at the Jetport Fire Station, located at 8014 Airport Rd in Santa Teresa.
RELATED: Doña Ana County ends agreement with Camino Real Regional Utility Authority
This comes on the heels of more than a year of controversies surrounding CRRUA due to the arsenic levels in their water.
RELATED:CRRUA admits failure to test Sunland Park, Santa Teresa water; promises transparency
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