UPDATE: Santa Teresa HS does not have arsenic in its water says CRRUA

UPDATE: The Camino Real Regional Utility Authority has apologized for misinformation regarding Santa Teresa High School’s water supply. Friday Brent Westmoreland said he was “90 percent sure” Santa Teresa High School had arsenic in its water and seconds later confirmed it. Saturday Westmoreland sent ABC-7 an email apologizing for the misinformation and the information provided Friday was not accurate.

For the record and in the interest of transparency the original story remains below.

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The high school and elementary school in this Southern New Mexico community have not been told to do anything about arsenic levels in drinking water, Gadsden ISD officials told ABC-7 Friday.

Communities in southern New Mexico have had to deal with arsenic in their water supplies for years. The installation of a new water pump and water treatment plant in Santa Teresa is expected to solve the problem.

Gadsden ISD said it has monitored the arsenic levels and no remedial action is warranted. From November 19, 2015 to April 13, 2016, the levels ranged from the lowest of 0.011 to the highest of 0.038, nearly four times the safety limit of 0.01 milligrams per liter across four sample locations, district officials said.

Two high school students ABC-7 spoke with said they had not been told about the arsenic at school. The students avoid drinking the water because they already know about the issues from their own homes.

Two other students said they had been told not to drink the school water. A student mentioned they were warned to not drink the water and a couple of hours later were told the water was now safe to drink. The second student said they were warned but never told to start drinking fountain water again.

They all agreed on one thing: the school had not provided an alternate source of water for them last semester. Gadsden ISD has not explained why no alternate water source has been provided.

The Camino Real Regional Utilities is building an arsenic treatment plant for Santa Teresa which should be operational by the end of the year.

“CRRUA remains dedicated to providing safe drinking water to all of our customers, and are working diligently to achieve this goal. But CRRUA cannot provide bottled water in the interim, as it is not regulated, and therefore the quality assurance cannot be guaranteed,” said Brent Westmoreland, the CRRUA executive director.

In the recommendation field the arsenic report reads that nothing needs to be done by consumers, but it does urge people whose immune systems are compromised to speak to their doctors about drinking the water.