Environment Department releases December Enforcement Watch

The New Mexico Environment Department recently released updates for December on the Enforcement Watch.

The Enforcement Watch is a listing of all active and resolved enforcement cases. Active cases involve an alleged violation of a regulation, rule, permit, license, etc. Resolved cases are those that were adjudicated in a court of law or administratively resolved. The Enforcement Watch also provides tools for the public to report alleged environmental or workplace safety violations.

In December, 99 new entries were added to the active matters listing, and seven were moved to the resolved matters listing.

The new additions to the report included:

• 86 notices of alleged violation issued by the Drinking Water Bureau
• Seven notices of alleged violation issued by the Occupational Health & Safety Bureau
• Five notices of alleged violation issued by the Air Quality Bureau
• One notice of alleged violation issued by the Solid Waste Bureau
• No new actions were issued by the Food Safety Program in December due to a software transition

The following enforcement cases were resolved in December:

• Three cases in the Hazardous Waste Bureau
• Two cases in the Solid Waste Bureau
• One case in the Air Quality Bureau
• One case in Radiation Control Bureau

There was one entry to the Enforcement Watch from Sandoval County. Placitas Community Library received the following letter from NMED:

“This letter serves as Notice of Violation that the Placitas Community Library water system failed to correct significant deficiencies identified during the May 27, 2021, sanitary survey performed by the New Mexico Environment Department-Drinking Water Bureau (NMED-DWB). Pursuant to Section 20.7.10.101 NMAC [incorporating 40 CFR Section 141.401, public water systems must undergo an onsite inspection (Sanitary Survey) of the water source, facilities, equipment, operation, maintenance and monitoring compliance of a public water system to evaluate the adequacy of the system, its sources and operations and the distribution of safe drinking water.

“The NMED-DWB provided the Placitas Community Library with a copy of the completed sanitary survey report identifying significant deficiencies. Within 120 days of the sanitary survey report letter, the Placitas Community Library water system was required to complete the corrective action and report the corrective action to NMED-DWB.

“To date, NMED-DWB has not received documentation verifying compliance with the significant deficiencies noted during the Sanitary Survey. Consequently, the Placitas Community Library water system is not in compliance with the regulations of the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA). If the Placitas Community Library water system has already corrected the deficiencies, submit documentation that verifies the deficiencies have been corrected.

“Based on the failure to correct all the significant deficiencies identified, the NMED-DWB requires the Placitas Community Library water system to notify customers of this Tier 2 violation as required in 20.7.10.100 NMAC [incorporating 40 CFR Section 141.203 (b)]. Public Notice must be made within 30 days from the date of this letter. The notice must be repeated every three months until the significant deficiency is corrected.

“A routine sanitary survey conducted on May 27, 2021 by the New Mexico Environment Department-Drinking Water Bureau found the sanitary Well Seal has no vent or 24 gage mesh wire.”