Los Lunas’ water supply

The village of Los Lunas provided information on its water services.

The village serves its 19,400 residents and its businesses with water pumped from five groundwater wells located west of the Rio Grande, as shown on the accompanying image.

The wells are interconnected and the distribution network includes five large water storage tanks, including the very visible half-million gallon tank east of Interstate 25 with the painted Tiger logo.

The water towers west of the State Campus on Main Street and next to the Los Lunas Museum of Heritage and Arts are no longer used for water storage.

The groundwater wells range from 900 to 1,000 feet deep and have produced consistently since 1979. The groundwater is extracted from sediments eroded from surrounding mountains as part of the Rio Grande Rift.

Although the village is growing, there is no anticipated need to drill new water wells in the near future.

At a village hearing in 2023, Dr. Lee Wilson, a hydrogeologist who has worked with the village for more than 20 years, stated that “the aquifer tapped by the village is healthy”.

The village water department personnel test the water it provides to the public on a regular basis and submit monthly results to the state for some of the critical tested constituents.

The village prepares an annual report, called the Consumer Confidence Report (CCR) that includes the main chemical analyses results. This annual CCR is posted on the village website, and it includes a description of the source of chemicals found in groundwater, which mostly consist of dissolved minerals leached by groundwater as it traveled through sediments.

The village serves its residents and many businesses, including its three largest — Meta/Facebook, Niagara Bottling and the recent Amazon facility.

Approximately 36 percent of the village water is used by commercial and industrial facilities. The Meta/Facebook facility is implementing water-saving measures and is planning to update the village on these efforts at the village council meeting on Jan.16, 2025.

In 2023, Niagara requested an amendment to their water agreement to increase their water use and the village approved a limit to the requested increase, although the agreement itself has not yet been finalized.

The village also operates the wastewater treatment plant located near the river, where the water is treated to state and federal standards.

The treated effluent is discharged to the Rio Grande.

Future columns will present summaries of water supply in other Valencia County communities.

(Paul Parmentier, a certified professional geologist retired from California and living in Los Lunas, shares the rich geologic features in Valencia County. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in geology from Belgium and a master’s degree in geochemistry from Japan. The Geology Landscapes of Valencia County are featured monthly.)