By Susan Morée, NM Political Report
The Rio Grande will receive better protection from contaminated stormwater runoff, thanks to a new decision by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
The EPA’s decision requires permit applications from Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos County and the New Mexico Department of Transportation for stormwater discharge. This permitting process will require the entities to meet certain federal benchmarks to ensure the water that reaches the Rio Grande will meet federal standards for clean water.
Stormwater discharge travels through the three drainages that feed into the Rio Grande. Conservation groups contend that PCB levels exceed as much as 14,000 times greater than the state’s Human Health water quality criteria in one of the drainages.
Rachel Conn, deputy director of the conservation group Amigos Bravos, told NM Political Report that cleaning up the stormwater that reaches the Rio Grande is critical because the river supplies drinking water for Santa Fe and Albuquerque.
She said it’s also important for wildlife and to protect the river for cultural practices for many Native Americans in New Mexico.
“And it’s important that we protect water quality,” she said.
The danger, Conn said, are both PCBs and heavy metals. She said whether the contamination is traveling from ongoing development around the town of Los Alamos and transportation practices or if it is connected to the legacy of old and noncontained pollution from the Manhattan Project from the 1940s has not been determined.
“They couldn’t meet permit requirements because of the runoff from urbanized areas,” Conn said.
Conn said the goal will likely be to slow the storm water down and let the contamination settle into pools before it reaches the river.
But, she said, because of recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions, some tributaries that feed into the Rio Grande will still not be protected waterways from the contaminated storm water runoff.
EPA v. Sackett, which the high court decided in 2022, weakened the Clean Water Act and determined that ‘waters of the United States’ means that discontinuous waterways are not protected. This includes intermittent streams and wetlands, according to SCOTUSblog.
The EPA, Region 6, said in a statement to NM Political Report that this stormwater discharge decision revised a previous EPA decision from 2019 that storm water discharge traveling from Los Alamos urban area and Los Alamos National Laboratory contribute to violations of New Mexico Water Quality Standards. Conn said Amigos Bravos and Western Environmental Law Center had been pushing EPA over this issue since 2014.
Steven Horak, public affairs spokesperson for LANL, told NM Political Report that the Laboratory agrees that the storm water discharge to the Rio Grande is subject to the Clean Water Act and fully supports EPA’s decision.
“Permitting actions stemming from this decision will provide necessary protections to important waters, which are emblematic of the waters of the arid and semi-arid Southwest United States. Each tributary to the Rio Grande forms, individually and collectively, an integrated, cohesive river network. The Lab believes these waters should be protected like any other – their climactic setting does not negate their essence as a water but, rather, demonstrates the richness and diversity of the waters of the United States,” Horak said in an email.
Horak said the permit “will not be LANL specific but will apply to multiple municipalities throughout New Mexico.”
He said the permit has not been issued by EPA. Julie Williams-Hill, public information officer for Los Alamos County also said EPA has not yet issued the necessary permit.
“We acknowledge the EPA’s decision designation and are reviewing the implications while considering the next steps. Although the EPA has issued a designation decision, it has not issued any MS4 permit that establishes requirements for or governs Los Alamos County. The issuance of the MS4 permit and the requirements of that permit will require additional administrative action by the EPA, which has not occurred at this time. Should Los Alamos County become subject to an MS4 permit, we would take necessary steps to comply,” Williams-Hill said by email.
New Mexico Department of Transportation did not respond to a request for comment by publication time.