Bosque Farms’ arsenic levels high; blending fix

BOSQUE FARMS — A recent notice alerted village of Bosque Farms residents to arsenic levels slightly above federal drinking water standards.

The notice was posted on the village’s website and mailed to residents at the end of January, advising the average level of arsenic in the drinking water sample collected in the village during the fourth quarter of 2025 was 0.011 milligrams per liter.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency sets the maximum containment level for arsenic at 0.010 mg/l, or 10 parts-per-billion. The EPA lowered the MCL for arsenic from 50 ppb to 10 ppb in 2001, matching the standard for the World Health Organization, according to the New Mexico Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources, a research and service division of New Mexico Tech in Socorro.

During the Jan. 15 village council meeting, Drew Padilla with Prodigy, the contractor operating the village’s water and wastewater systems for the last two years, told the council he and the administration were aware of the arsenic levels.

Baseline sampling of drinking water in 2025 has shown slightly elevated arsenic levels in Well 2, which sits along Bosque Farms Boulevard, and Well 1, near the rodeo arena, tends to be “right there” at the 10 ppb limit, Padilla said.

“Sometimes those levels are higher and we will get a ‘soft’ violation from (new Mexico Environment Department) because we’ll be 1 ppb over,” Padilla said. “We are doing manual blending (of water from the two wells) but it’s hard to do with limited staff. The arsenic level has been lower with blending, but Well 2 seems to always run just a hair over.”

Village Clerk/Administrator Erica Martinez said the village did receive a notice from NMED, which would be mailed to residents.

“We have also requested a meeting with NMED so we can explain the way we’re blending. That one well is always over and one is a smidge over,” Martinez said. “We really want the environment department to understand what’s taking place.”

Councilor James Bruhn noted the village has $400,000 available for arsenic remediation, asking Padilla if improvements to the SCADA system — the software and hardware combination that allows remote monitoring of the village’s water and wastewater systems — would help make the mixing process automated, rather than having someone do it manually.

Padilla said SCADA improvements would help, noting that during a recent meeting with NMED it was indicated he, as a Level 4 operator, could create a plan for automatic blending to be submitted to the agency.

“We have to submit a plan and our new sample will be from a blended area, at an end point in the system,” he said. “We know Well 2 is a little high, but what you’re drinking is safe.”

According to information on the New Mexico Environmental Public Health Tracking program’s website, arsenic is a naturally occurring element in the earth’s crust.

“Arsenic levels in water samples from private wells vary between New Mexico counties and even within the same county. There appears to be higher arsenic levels in central New Mexico counties based on the data that are available,” the website reads. “The groundwater system in New Mexico is very complex. This complexity can lead to large arsenic concentration variability even among neighboring wells. Therefore, to know the arsenic concentration in your water from your own well, you need to test.”