SUNLAND PARK — Fidel Briones cautiously resumed drinking tap water in his Sunland Park home this year.
Meanwhile, his wife favors drinking bottled water — she does not trust the tap due to fears of arsenic contamination.
Those fears aren’t unfounded.
The region’s drinking water has historically dealt with high arsenic levels — which naturally exist in Doña Ana County’s groundwater — although it has been compliant with Environmental Protection Agency health standards since January 2025 following increased state oversight.
Briones, who moved from El Paso to Sunland Park nine years ago, came to a public meeting Wednesday hosted by the state Environment Department at Sunland Park Sports Complex because: “We’ve been having problems with [water] for years, and nobody really has done anything about it until recently, including the Environmental Department,” he said in an interview.
While Sunland Park’s water is now technically compliant with EPA limits on arsenic, it’s only by a hair — and residents are paying more for that water now, thanks to a January rate increase of roughly 40%. Another hike is taking effect soon. As leaders chart their path forward, they have plenty of trust to rebuild with community members, who are angry about the steep bills and the water provider’s missteps — amidst a charged battle over the neighboring Project Jupiter data center.
Studies show communities with a higher proportion of Latino residents are more likely to experience higher concentrations of arsenic in public drinking water. Since its inception in 2009, the Camino Real Regional Utility Authority — a public water and wastewater facility for Santa Teresa and Sunland Park — has been embroiled in controversy.
Background
Ten years ago, arsenic levels in Sunland Park, which is 94% Latino, reached five times the legal limit.
Despite meeting current EPA requirements of 10 parts per billion since January 2025, the utility authority’s September report found 9 parts per billion in Sunland Park’s Arsenic Treatment Facility. That was up from 6.2 part per billion in August.
Of course, “the goal is zero” parts per billion, Avery Young, the state department’s chief of water protection compliance and enforcement, said at Wednesday’s meeting.
Long-term exposure to even a small amount of arsenic is found to increase cancer risks and can cause diabetes and skin, cardiovascular and circulatory damage. It also can impact child health and lead to adverse pregnancy outcomes, according to the World Health Organization.
Even though the department is not required to monitor arsenic levels quarterly — since the water authority is currently in compliance with federal requirements — it will continue to do so, Tim Willy, a compliance officer with the state Environment Department, said Wednesday.
The department also outlined plans to work with utilities on a source water protection plan for about 14 public wells between the U.S. Mexico border and Anthony, which will map potential contamination sources, rank their risk, and set action items, with community input along the way and a final plan expected by late spring 2027, according to Andy Jochems, source water protection team lead at the Environment Department.
Rebuilding trust
Regulatory agencies will have to work hard to regain the borderland community’s trust.
Residents at the meeting Wednesday conveyed their frustration with high water bills, pollution from the massive and controversial data center Project Jupiter — which is located in their backyards — and cancer afflicting their friends and family. They articulated disappointment with what they see as a lack of state oversight of their water authority.
This meeting comes after a settlement earlier this year between state Environment Department officials and the water authority.
The Feb. 10 settlement of $189,000 was born out of a 2023 state investigation that found the utility sent drinking water with arsenic levels violating state and federal limits to its customers. The investigation — which received national attention — also determined the water authority failed to notify their customers of these violations.
“How can somebody allow a company for years to put out this unsafe water and still charge people for it?” Briones asked at the meeting. “We’re still getting dirty, filthy, yellow water.”
Young responded that the New Mexico Environment Department is currently working through a case in the 3rd Judicial District Court.
In an unprecedented lawsuit, the department sued the water authority in May 2025, asking the courts to order the authority to monitor arsenic in real time; give customers free test strips; supply an alternative drinking water source if arsenic exceeds state limits; hold monthly public meetings; and pay civil penalties that, under state law, go toward funding drinking water and wastewater operators statewide.
Young added that a fine is not the solution.
“It isn’t going to be them paying it; it’ll be you all paying it,” he said. “With [Camino Real Regional Utility Authority] they did end up paying a fine earlier this year. … I don’t know exactly how they made that [money].”
The water authority did not respond to requests for comment asking if they increased rates to pay for the settlement.
State leaders at the meeting told residents they are trying to do better.
Young said while there are reasons for historical regulatory decisions, “None of those reasons are going to make you probably feel better, and it’s not going to fix what happened. But what I can tell you is we are very much aware, and we are taking this very seriously, and we want to do better as us as the regulators” to hold the authority accountable.
The state Environment Department also held one-on-one consultations between residents and staff members Tuesday through Thursday.
“We understand trust isn’t given by simply saying we’re with the government,” Robert Genoway, deputy director of the compliance and enforcement division at the state department said at the meeting. “Trust is earned through communicating, through addressing matters that are brought to us, [through] continuously working to ensure that your water system is safe.”
Julia Gentin/The New Mexican
‘Very drastic’ water bill
Sunland Park residents are concerned about the costs they’re paying for their water, and about further rate increases. Some said they already feel constrained by their economic situations. The median household income in Sunland Park is $62,814, below the state’s median of $67,800.
“Here in Sunland Park, we have limited economic resources,” Sunland Park resident Ana Chavez said in Spanish at the meeting. “For us to spend $90 each month on water bills and also have to buy bottled water — all of this is difficult.”
For Daisy Lopez, a Santa Teresa native, the recent increase in her water bill has “been very drastic.” She said she pays $100 to the water authority and wondered where those funds are going.
Another 3% rate increase will go into effect in January, according to the authority’s website.
Young said that while rate increases “are a very tricky issue,” part of it has to do with expenses needed to meet requirements of the Safe Drinking Water Act.
“It is a really difficult regulatory mandate. Sunland Park and New York City have to meet the same obligations,” Young said. “There is a huge difference between the ability of Sunland Park and New York City, and so we do have to realize that a lot of that compliance does come up with a cost.”
Cancer concerns
Community members also raised concerns of poor water quality’s effects on their health.
Chuck Wiggins and Sarah Nash from the New Mexico Tumor Registry at University of New Mexico studied cancer rates in Sunland Park from 2014 to 2023, and found no evidence the rates of cancer more strongly associated with arsenic exposure — bladder, lung and certain skin cancers — were higher in Sunland Park than the rest of New Mexico.
But attendees questioned the research, providing themselves and other community members as living proof.
Vivian Fuller, a community organizer in Sunland Park, said out of the 40 members who regularly attend Empowerment Congress’ monthly meetings, two individuals have melanoma.
One attendee interrupted the presentation, saying he had skin cancer because “the water is no good. How come it’s so dangerous?”
Wiggins responded that since melanoma is the most common type of cancer, it’s rarely reported unless it is very aggressive, which is why it was not included in their findings — in addition to the fact that it is not necessarily associated with arsenic exposure.
Chavez asked in Spanish about those without insurance who cross the border to receive cancer care in Juárez — would they be included in New Mexico statistics?
“It’s true that a lot of people are going across the border for treatment, and that would be… a concern to us,” Wiggins said, noting he and his colleagues do not exchange data with doctors in Chihuahua, for example. “Because we know that this contamination is here, it’s important for us to continue to watch this and to monitor this as we go forward.”
Project Jupiter questions
Sunland Park residents are also facing a different water-related complication: Project Jupiter, located mere miles away from their homes.
The data center project is currently using about 782 million gallons of water per year during its construction phase.
Their water authority confirmed in 2025 that it has a nondisclosure agreement with STACK Infrastructure, one of the major companies behind the data center. It’s possible they could provide water and wastewater services for the data center campus.
On Wednesday, state leaders said they weren’t prepared to discuss the controversial project in depth.
“We know that people in the community have questions about … Project Jupiter,” Genoway said. “Unfortunately, we don’t have the technical staff here tonight to discuss that. We’re here just to focus on the water system itself.”
Julia Gentin/The New Mexican
Sunland Park residents said feel they have not been properly consulted on the data center nor received information about its environmental impacts. Many residents asked about the data center’s potential to worsen existing water issues: “What’s the plan in place for us as far the protection of our water, since Jupiter’s coming in?” Fuller asked.
Jochems said Project Jupiter is included in the map of the department’s source water protection project — designed to safeguard the region’s raw supply of drinking water by cleaning up contamination from underground fuel tanks, for example.
Still, he acknowledged “it is going to take some learning and understanding on our part” because they have yet to work with a data center expert.
Young reiterated that the state is dedicated to helping improve the situation in Sunland Park.
“We are trying to do better for you to make sure what happened in the past doesn’t happen again,” Young said. “I can’t fix what happened in the past. … What I can tell you is, we know, and we’re going to do better.”
Julia Gentin is a reporter for The Las Cruces New Mexican, The Santa Fe New Mexican and Searchlight New Mexico through a partnership with Report for America, a national service program that places journalists into local newsrooms. She covers the Southern New Mexico region. Learn more about Report for America at reportforamerica.org.
