Residents press city on lead-and-copper inventory; utilities director says annual updates and NMED approval in place

Several residents told the Las Cruces City Council on Sept. 2 that the city’s handling of the federal lead-and-copper rule and its service-line inventory is incomplete and risks leaving vulnerable residents unprotected. Utilities Director Adrien Widmer told the council the city’s approach includes annual inventory updates and that the New Mexico Environment Department has approved the city’s customer-notice process.

Why it matters: Under the federal rule, identifying lead and galvanized lines informs priority outreach, testing and replacement decisions. Public commenters said omissions and characterization practices in the city’s inventory could keep properties from receiving required notification and timely testing.

In public comment, Lynn Moore said the city has “no records notifying new customers of their pipe material” and accused staff of relying on characterization practices that omit or mislabel lines. “Characterizing piping as non lead without any basis whatsoever” is being used, Moore said, to avoid identifying lead pipes and “save the city a lot of work.”

Liz Rodriguez Johnson, another speaker who addressed council, read a list of claimed shortfalls she said the city has with EPA requirements, including alleged failures to sample consumer taps on request and to notify owners of galvanized pipes that require replacement. She noted many omitted properties are in older neighborhoods and mobile-home parks and urged faster prioritization for disadvantaged populations.

Utilities Director Adrien Widmer responded during the staff report portion of the meeting. He said a real-time public map is not required by the lead-and-copper rule; the city will perform annual inventory updates “instead of doing a real time update as we move forward.” On public-record requests, Widmer said an IPRA (Inspection of Public Records Act) that seeks a prepared list would require creation of a record; staff can provide records if residents submit specific account names or numbers. He also said “NMED has approved our customer notice process.” Widmer stated that customer-requested regulatory testing does not become mandatory under the rule until November 2027.

The transcript shows repeated public concerns about sampling and whether the city has inspected properties in older neighborhoods. Commenters asked why the city would delay galvanize-replacement notifications until late in its compliance timeline; Widmer said mobile-home parks served by master meters will be evaluated according to the rule’s installation-date criteria.

No formal action or vote on the lead-and-copper inventory was taken by the council during the meeting. The topic was raised primarily in public comment and in a utilities status update.

Ending: Council members and staff acknowledged the public concern during the meeting and staff provided procedural clarifications, including the schedule for annual inventory updates and the November 2027 regulatory milestone for customer-requested testing. The council did not adopt new policy at the Sept. 2 meeting on the matter.