‘I make my own water’: Santa Teresa residents plagued by discolored tap water

SANTA TERESA, N.M. (KVIA) -- Discolored, yellow water is once again pouring from household taps in Santa Teresa, leaving residents frustrated, distrustful and forced to spend hundreds on home filtration systems just to get usable water.

Residents have exhausted all options from installing Puronics water purification systems, water softener systems, heavy metal tanks, additional carbon filters, UV filtration, to even making their own water.  

The Camino Real Regional Utility Authority (CRRUA), which supplies water to Sunland Park and Santa Teresa—tells ABC-7 that an overnight system outage may have caused the temporary discoloration. However, for residents, this latest incident follows a long history of water quality concerns and administrative fines.

Homes across the community report trying everything—from installing high-end water softeners, heavy metal tanks, Puronics purification systems, and UV filtration, to making their own distilled water at home.

• Recent System Fine: Earlier this year, CRRUA agreed to a $189,000 settlement with the New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) following years of drinking water violations, including unnotified arsenic spikes and operational deficiencies.
• System Deficiencies: An NMED Sanitary Survey identified 58 operational deficiencies within CRRUA’s facilities, including previous failures to properly maintain arsenic filtration systems and prompt customer notification protocols.

Santa Teresa resident Joanna Muna said she has had water issues for 10 years and started taking matters into her own hands.

She said she spent hundreds of dollars to install a flitering system with carbonation filters, UV light and a water purifier.

"It's stealing from people's livelihoods, stealing from their health. It needs to be fixed," Muna said.

Other residents said they're sticking to bottled water.

ABC-7 reached out to CRRUA for an interview, they declined. However, a spokesperson responded with a statememnet that read:

"CRRUA tested the water from the distribution system outside the property line. The water was clear and within acceptable levels for chlorine and ph. CRRUA recommends that customers who notice discolored water flush their outdoor faucet for several minutes until the water clears. If the discoloration remains, call the CRRUA customer service number at 575-589-1075 or the after-hours emergency number at 575-202-7173."