NMED News:

The New Mexico Environment Department is reviewing a Stage 1 Abatement Plan to address chloride and manganese contamination at a former landfill site, located southwest of the Sierra de Rio Golf Course and west of Clubhouse Road in Elephant Butte.

Environmental Consultants Parkhill, representing the owners of the City of Truth or Consequences, submitted the plan on May 28, 2025, to continue assessing environmental contamination caused by over 10 years of landfill operation at the site. It was used as a municipal solid waste landfill and closed in 1974.

Currently, the site’s pollutants exceeding groundwater protection standards in on-site monitoring wells are chloride and manganese.

The plan, available here, proposes gathering additional soil and groundwater data across the site to establish a baseline of current contamination conditions. It also includes contingencies to expand the existing site monitoring network and data collection requirements as needed, aiming to provide Parkhill with enough information to select an appropriate cleanup strategy.

NMED is actively reviewing the plan and will either approve it or require Parkhill to correct and resubmit it. Once Parkhill gathers enough information to identify the source and extent of the site contamination, it will submit a Stage 2 Abatement Plan that identifies the preferred cleanup strategy.

For more information on the plan, contact Noel Hernandez of the State Cleanup Program at 505. 660.8497 or noel.hernandez@env.nm.gov. NMED is providing this notice of receipt of the Stage 1 Abatement Plan under 20.6.2.4108 (A) NMAC.