19-02-2025
Santa Fe to send water to Las Vegas as city once again struggles with water supply
Pandemic, wildfire, floodwaters and water main leaks: The city of Las Vegas, N.M., has had a chaotic last five years.
Following water system problems that have cut off the supply to thousands of residents and placed the whole city under a boil water advisory, including a recent major leak, Las Vegas is now trucking water in from the city of Santa Fe.
Santa Fe also provided water for its neighbor to the east over the summer after flooding in the Hermits Peak/Calf Canyon Fire burn scar knocked ash and silt into Las Vegas' water supply past the point at which it could be treated.
Santa Fe at the time was able to comfortably provide water without straining its own resources, something Water Division Director Jesse Roach said will be even easier in the winter.
"It's never a good time for a water emergency, but in terms of our ability to help, the winter is our low-demand season," Roach said Tuesday. "We have the capacity to help them out without straining our resources."
He noted Santa Fe also has offered to send personnel to Las Vegas to assist with repairs if needed.
The city has been processing about 7 million gallons of water a day recently, Roach said, but it processes more than double some days in the summer. The maximum Las Vegas can take in one day under its agreement with Santa Fe, 400,000 gallons, would be slightly more than 5% of Santa Fe's current daily demand.
The city is selling the water to Las Vegas at $6.06 per 1,000 gallons, its lowest rate. Roach noted the major expense for Las Vegas will be gas and driver time, not the water itself.
Tankers began filling up from two metered hydrants on Santa Fe's south side beginning Monday evening and continued throughout the day Tuesday.
Problems began last week after Las Vegas' water system experienced a leak that led to widespread low pressure and outages through parts of the community. The water system serves about 14,530 users, according to the New Mexico Environment Department.
Work has been underway to fix the leak over the last several days, the city has announced in news releases, but many residents remain without water and officials have been urging those who do have water to only use it when strictly necessary to conserve the supply.
The entire city is currently under a boil water advisory, the New Mexico Environment Department announced Tuesday. The agency said the advisory was required because of turbidity, or cloudiness, in the water system beyond limits set by the Safe Drinking Water Act, but no contamination has been identified in the water system.
Several Las Vegas city officials did not respond to requests for comment Tuesday.
Las Vegas City Councilor Barbara Perea Casey said she has been fielding nonstop calls from residents without water, estimating she's received 500 in the last two days.
Perea Casey said the leak drained one of the city's water tanks before it could be located, cutting off water to many people in the city.
"Some people have water, some just had a trickle and some have regular water coming in," she said.
She noted the City Council is scheduled to have a special meeting Friday to discuss the water emergency but said she is not sure how long it will take for the issue to be resolved.
Roach said Las Vegas officials had requested water from Santa Fe for three to 30 days.
The water emergency speaks to the importance of having a diversified water portfolio, he said, something Santa Fe has worked hard to create over the years. It now has four main sources of water: the city well field, the Buckman well field, surface water from the Santa Fe River and the Buckman Direct Diversion, which pulls Colorado River Basin flows from the Rio Grande.
If an issue were to occur at the Canyon Road Water Treatment Plant or the Buckman Direct Diversion, the city would be able to fall back on other water sources while it worked to fix the issue.
Having a resilient water system makes it easier to provide aid to surrounding communities as well, such as Las Vegas, Roach noted.
"We're happy to be in a position to be able to help them," he said.
Roach mentioned the issue during Monday night's Public Works and Utilities Committee meeting.
City councilors on the committee appeared supportive: "I think it's important we help our neighbors when we can," Councilor Amanda Chavez said.
