Utilities officials told City Council a November violation stemmed from lab paperwork errors and posed no immediate health danger, while critics continued pressing the city over lead-pipe inspections, notifications and public disclosure

Damien Willis, Organ Mountain News

LAS CRUCES - Las Cruces Utilities officials told City Council Monday that a drinking-water violation disclosed to customers this month resulted from laboratory paperwork errors rather than unsafe water, as the department faces mounting criticism over its handling of lead and galvanized service lines and the information it provides to residents.

Steve Perez, deputy director of regulatory compliance for Las Cruces Utilities, said the November monitoring and reporting violation occurred after incorrect well identification numbers on laboratory paperwork made it appear required samples had not been collected.

“This was not an emergency,” Perez said.

One routine monthly sample collected from a customer’s residence had tested positive for total coliform, he said. A follow-up sample at the residence was negative, as were additional samples collected upstream and downstream and from all supply wells operating on the day of the original test.

“There was no immediate danger to human health,” Perez said. “It was a monitoring and reporting violation.”

The required public notice reached customers in early August. Perez said federal rules would have allowed Utilities to include the notice with an annual consumer confidence report, but the department plans to notify customers more quickly when similar violations occur in the future.

“Moving forward, we’ll make sure to do that ASAP rather than waiting till later as the rules would allow,” Perez said. “We’ll just go ahead and get those notices out immediately.”

Lead sampling below systemwide action level

Perez also walked councilors through the federal Lead and Copper Rule and how Utilities calculates compliance using the 90th percentile of samples collected.

In the example presented Monday, the 90th percentile lead concentration was 0.009 milligrams per liter, below the federal action level of 0.015 milligrams per liter.

Two individual samples were above that threshold — 0.018 and 0.024 milligrams per liter — but Perez said those results did not cause the water system as a whole to exceed the federal action level under the rule’s calculation.

Customers whose individual samples exceeded the action level were sent notices explaining steps they could take to reduce exposure to lead from plumbing inside their properties, Perez said.

The federal action level is a regulatory trigger for water systems, not a declaration that lower concentrations of lead are harmless.

University Estates report being revised

Perez also said the New Mexico Environment Department required Las Cruces Utilities to revise the annual consumer confidence report for the University Estates water system.

University Estates relies partly on Las Cruces municipal water to meet demand.

Perez said NMED initially approved a report combining water-quality data from the University Estates and Las Cruces systems but later determined the report should contain separate tables for each water source.

Utilities has since revised the tables and received approval, he said. University Estates customers will receive the corrected report.

That revision comes after months of criticism from residents who have challenged Utilities’ lead testing, service-line inventory and public reporting.

Critics press city over lead and galvanized pipes

During public comment Monday, environmental attorney Lynn Moorer and advocate Liz Rodriguez-Johnson again accused Utilities officials of failing to properly inspect, document and notify residents whose properties may contain lead or galvanized service lines.

Moorer questioned how the city is using roughly $15 million obtained for its lead and galvanized service-line program and alleged city records show dozens of properties where galvanized piping was previously identified but has not been replaced.

Rodriguez-Johnson alleged Utilities records show eight property owners identified as having galvanized pipes were not notified by the end of 2025. She also questioned why inspection records for 36 properties that once identified galvanized pipe were later changed to indicate different pipe materials.

Those allegations were made during public comment and were not independently verified by Organ Mountain News. Utilities officials did not directly respond to them during Monday’s presentation.

The two residents have raised similar claims repeatedly at council meetings this year, including allegations that the city has not followed through on commitments to prioritize lower-income and disadvantaged properties for inspection and replacement work.

Public dispute over transparency

Monday’s presentation also came one day after Las Cruces Sun-News columnist and community radio host Peter Goodman published an opinion column accusing the city of avoiding a live discussion of the lead-pipe controversy.

According to a public synopsis of Goodman’s Aug. 16 column, Las Cruces Utilities Director Adrienne Widmer declined an invitation to discuss the issue on Goodman’s radio program after learning Moorer would also participate.

Goodman argued the city was unwilling to participate in a live discussion it could not fully control.

The timing does not establish that Goodman’s column prompted Monday’s Utilities presentation. The council agenda would have been prepared before the column was published.

But the column added fresh public scrutiny to an issue that has surfaced repeatedly before City Council in recent months.

Perez’s presentation Monday addressed the mechanics of lead sampling, the November reporting violation and the revised University Estates report. It did not directly address the broader dispute over inspection records, the $15 million service-line program or the city’s willingness to engage critics publicly.

Damien Willis is founder and editor of Organ Mountain News. If you have a personal story to share or a lead we should follow up on, reach out at OrganMountainNews@gmail.com or connect with him on X at @damienwillis.