Several residents told the Las Cruces City Council during public participation that they distrust the city's lead service-line inventory and its methods for classifying service-line materials under the federal Lead and Copper Rule.

Speakers urged clearer evidence and records for the inventory and said the city's use of visual inspection at meter pits and water sampling without records can produce false non-lead classifications. Lynn Morerer, who identified herself as utilities director (in public comment), told the council the New Mexico Environment Division has no primacy and that EPA alone enforces the rule; Morerer said the city misclassified more than a quarter of sampled properties as non-lead based on installation dates and pointed to disappeared records posted online.

Liz Rodriguez Johnson, another commenter, said the city's reliance on "water sampling only with no records" and "field inspection only with no records" fails to meet EPA's validation requirements and leaves classifications unverifiable. Other public commenters pushed for better documentation and verification.

Las Cruces Utilities responded in a later staff report. Carl Clark, Assistant Utilities Director, told council that New Mexico Environment Division does not have primacy (enforcement authority), but that the NMED provides oversight, technical support and guidance and works directly with EPA. Clark said the Environment Division reviewed the city's new-customer connection form and approved the city's current process for notifying new customers of service-line material.

Clark acknowledged earlier web-map and download problems tied to browser issues — not deliberate removal of data — and said the utility will move to annual inventory reporting to reduce confusion caused by frequent updates. He said the utility secured grant funding and plans to hire a consultant experienced in lead-line inventories to do a complete inventory and that the city will make reports available to the public and to EPA.

Clark also said the primary record-keeping shortfall relates to older replacement records from prior decades, not present-day testing, and that the city intends to move quickly to use available grant funds for a consultant-led inventory and verification process.

The public comments and the utility's response were recorded during the public participation and staff update portions of the Aug. 18 council meeting. No formal enforcement action or compliance finding was taken by the council at the meeting; the utilities update outlined next steps and funded hiring and consultant work are pending the availability of grants and procurement.