Dear friends of Valencia Water Watchers,

It has been a long time since we updated you about Niagara Bottling Corporation’s plans to take more and more water from the aquifer that sustains life in our small, mostly rural desert community in NM. 

Since July, 2022, Niagara’s request to take more water has been on hold while the Los Lunas Village Councilors waited for their “Water Experts Report.” 

Finally, an INCOMPLETE, DRAFT version of that “experts report” was presented to the Village Councilors on Nov. 16th, 2023. 

Now that the “experts report” is in, Niagara is BACK AGAIN asking the Councilors for more water. Almost 3 times more water than they already take!

BACKGROUND

For the last 5 years, Niagara has been pumping 285 AFY (acre-feet per year) of our precious water from the aquifer. 

• That’s 93 Million gallons of water sucked up out of the aquifer each year
• About 743 MILLION 16oz plastic water bottles in one year

AND NOW…

Niagara is requesting to almost TRIPLE the quantity of water they pump out of our aquifer. How much are they asking for this time? A whopping 782 AFY of water! 

• That’s 254 Million gallons of water per year
• More than 2 BILLION 16oz plastic water bottles in a year

AGAIN, WE ARE TRYING TO STOP NIAGARA FROM TAKING MORE OF OUR WATER

The Los Lunas Village Council will consider Niagara’s request at their Thursday, December 7th meeting.

We will be there with our allies, speaking up during Public Comment and asking them to delay this decision until they have good, modern, science-based information about the aquifer.

That “Water Experts Report” about the aquifer that they are using to justify their decision? It’s inadequate, to put it mildly. The “water experts” simply recycled (“updated”) an old report from 1994. 

Here are some statements the “water experts” actually made in their “updated” 1994 report:

• "The update is not to include new data collection or analyses"
• "The tables (hundreds of well records) are not up to date"
  (30 years out of date!)
• "[The 1994] report contained a map of water table elevations as of 1960-1961"
• "We have found no water table map of sufficient quality and reliability to replace the map provided in the prior [1994] report"
  (Relying on data that’s 60+ years old!)

HOW CAN YOU SUPPORT US AS WE STAND UP TO NIAGARA (AGAIN)?

• If you are local in Valencia County, New Mexico, please show up to the Los Lunas Council meeting on December 7th at 6pm. (660 Main St. NW, Los Lunas, NM)
  
  Or, even better, join VWW at a 5pm protest outside the building just before the Council meeting. 
  
  
• If you cannot come to the protest or the Los Lunas Council meeting, please consider logging in to their live-streamed virtual meeting:
  
  MS TEAMS Meeting 
  – Phone: 1-469-998-7597 
  – Meeting ID: 278779559276   
  – Passcode: ku5UeE 
  
  See the Los Lunas Council Meeting web page
  
  
• Email the Village Councilors and tell them they must not make this Niagara decision without adequate, reliable, contemporary, science-based information about the aquifer.
  
  Recycling a 1994 report with no new data or analysis is unprofessional and inadequate. 
  
  Village Emails: 
  – Councilor Christopher Ortiz: OrtizC@loslunasnm.gov
  – Councilor Gino Romero: RomeroG@loslunasnm.gov
  – Councilor Cruz Munoz: MunozCr@loslunasnm.gov
  – Councilor James Runyon: RunyonJ@loslunasnm.gov
  – Mayor Charles Griego: GriegoC@loslunasnm.gov 
  – Village Administrator Gregory Martin: MartinG@loslunasnm.gov   
  
  
• Call or FAX the Village of Los Lunas administration and tell them they must not make this Niagara decision without adequate information about the aquifer.
  
  They need reliable, contemporary, science-based data, not a recycled 30-year old report with 60-year old data…
  
  – Village Admin Phone: (505) 839-3840
  – Village Admin FAX: (505) 352-3580

THANK YOU!

We sincerely appreciate the way you first stood up for us in 2021 and signed our original “Say NO to NIAGARA!” petition. We hope you can once again stand up for us and for the community that we share. 

Here’s a short video we made  

Water is life. El Agua es la Vida. 

The sheer amount of waste and damage Niagara causes to our environment is unconscionable.

Niagara is here and, while the Village cannot deny their right to do business, there is no reason – except corporate profit and greed – to nearly triple the amount of water they take from our aquifer.

Especially when Niagara is a poor Water Steward and gives nothing back to the community (except maybe a few cases of plastic water bottles). 

With gratitude,

~~ Valencia Water Watchers

Email: Valencia.Water.Watchers@gmail.com

Facebook: @VWWpage

InstaGram: @valenciawaterwatchers