NMED News:
- Customers are urged to Boil Water Prior to Drinking
SANTA FE – The New Mexico Environment Department’s Drinking Water Bureau has issued a “boil water advisory” for the Sugarite Canyon State Park, Lake Alice Campground.
NMED issued the advisory Friday after bacteriological contamination (E. coli) was detected in routine and repeat drinking water samples from the water system’s source. NMED requires Sugarite Canyon State Park, Lake Alice Campground to notify water system consumers of this finding. Sugarite Canyon State Park, Lake Alice Campground is a transient non-community public water system that serves approximately 75 people, approximately seven miles North West of Raton in Colfax County.
This advisory only applies to the drinking water from the Sugarite Canyon State Park, Lake Alice Campground, and does not extend to any other surrounding water systems.
Consumers of the Sugarite Canyon State Park, Lake Alice Campground are advised to boil the water for five minutes before drinking, cooking, dishwashing and bathing. The presence of E. coli in water indicates that the water may have been in contact with sewage or animal wastes, and could contain disease-causing organisms.
Most strains of E. coli are harmless and live in the intestines of healthy humans and animals. However, a positive test for E. coli in the drinking water supply may indicate the presence of dangerous strains of E. coli or other disease-causing organisms. These types of organisms may cause severe gastrointestinal illness and, in rare cases, death. Children, the elderly and immuno-compromised individuals are at an increased risk for illness.
The NMED Drinking Water Bureau will provide technical assistance to the water system and Sugarite Canyon State Park, Lake Alice Campground will continue to test the water until no further threat of contamination remains.
For more information, call NMED Communications Director Allison Scott Majure at 505.231.8800 or Jan Dye, Drinking Water Bureau Compliance Officer, at 575.445.3621.
