On Monday, July 15, 2024, Estancia Mayor Nathan Dial announced to the town’s Board of Trustees, "We’ve got some well problems." Dial explained that there were problems with the well that fed Arthur Park’s lake and the well that is used for the town’s drinking water. "I’m not saying it’s critical yet," Dial continued, "but I’m about to the point where if something else goes bad and we’re going to start having the state on call [because] the town of Estancia may run out of water or not be able to pump water." Dial said that he hoped he would have better news the next day, after the wells were re-inspected.

The next day, the Town of Estancia posted on Facebook that the town’s well was low, and that the artificial lake in Arthur Park was approximately three feet below its usual fill line for this reason. In an interview that day (July 16, 2024), Mayor Dial stated he believed that there was 29 feet of water left in the town’s drinking water storage tanks (what he considered to be two days worth of water), and that the town had an additional well that was not able to be utilized due to mechanical problems. Dial said that Estancia’s Public Works Department was conducting hourly checks of the residential well. Dial said he had notified Torrance County’s Emergency Manager[1], Samantha O’Dell, of the water shortage. When asked what options were available to assist Estancia, Dial explained that the National Guard had helped the town with water in the past and that the town may need to ask the state for help if the water levels in the residential well do not rise soon.

In response to the town’s notice on Facebook requesting that residents conserve water, some blamed the low water level in the residential well on the wind farms operating and under construction on the east side of Torrance County. Others blamed commercial cannabis cultivators. Estancia Trustee Morrow Hall responded to this claim by saying there was only one cannabis cultivator in town and it operated on its own well system, not on the residential water lines. County Commissioner Sam Schropp responded, "No," to the claims that selling water and cannabis cultivation were the reasons for the water shortage. Estancia resident Larry Silva commented, "I'm pretty sure in the near future we will have to start hauling our own water, and storing it in cisterns. I have no idea what the cost will be, but I bet it's not cheap."

Update July 17, 2024, at 19:54

Mayor Nathan Dial explained in a telephone call that the 29 feet of water remaining was in reference to water remaining in the storage tanks attached to the residential well. Dial said that since his previous contact with the Mountainair Dispatch on July 16, 2024, the town worked with Wesley Dennison of Digger Services to remedy the water shortage. Dial said that Digger Services made the well 25 feet deeper. The town has been pumping water from the well for the last 30 hours, Dial said, and the tentative plan was to fill two of the town‘s water tanks located at the Pumpkin Chunkin’ field, then work on refilling the water in the lake located at Arthur Park. Dial said that the town had planned to add a new residential water well in 2017, but the State of New Mexico nixed the measure because at the time the Torrance County Corrrectional Facility had stopped operations. Since the prison has resumed operations, Dial said, he planned on resubmitting the application for the new residential well.

Footnote

1. Disclosure of potential conflict of interest: I am the vice-chairperson of the Torrance County Local Emergency Planning Committee, a volunteer organization that works with Torrance County’s Emergency Management Department, generally, and O’Dell, specifically.