Big meeting coming up
There will be a meeting at the Hill Baptist Church starting at 6:30 PM on Tuesday, March 16, 2010. This meeting is being sponsored by Representative Jeff Steinborn (District 37 and our area). All parties and interested folks are invited. I can’t say for sure who will be there, but I think at least two candidates for District 1 County Commissioner will be. I also believe a representative from NMED (New Mexico Environment Department) will there too. This meeting is to help solve our problem. To that end bring your ideas and questions.
Representative Steinborn is supporting our effort to keep the Waste Water Treatment Plant (WWTP) from being put in at Hope Road. Last Tuesday he made this clear to the board of Dona Ana Municipal District Water Consumer’s Association (DAMDWCA). He told them that he wanted to work with them to find a better alternative. One possible alternative that has not been considered to date, is to use the full capacity of the existing sewer line already serving the Village of Dona Ana and connected to the City of Las Cruces (CLC) system. If future growth warrants, then a new line could be extended. Although no discussions have been held with the city on such a proposal, it is known that the city has the capacity and has no set rules preventing such action.
It is important for everyone to realize that there is no evidence that there is a ground water problem in our north valley area. Nitrate levels are quite low and no tests have been done to determine if the small amount of nitrates present are from human waste or from agriculture (mainly fertilizers). Obviously a WWTP would do nothing for fertilizer contamination. Further there is often talk about growth and growth’s inevitability. If a WWTP is put in, then there will be growth – most likely of the development kind. Someone will probably make a bunch of money at our expense.
Please do your best to attend Tuesday’s meeting. My guess is that the press will be there and a big turnout should help us. We’ve come quite a ways from that day DAMDWCA was grading the 25 acre site, and we learned what they had in mind. It is my hope that the DAMDWCA board will see the wisdom of taking another course of action
Ian Leslie
Vice-Chair, Amigos de los Robledos
