SB 21\/22 fills a massive regulatory shortcoming and will protect New Mexico’s primary water resources, safe drinking water, community health, and the long-term viability of agriculture and recreation. SB 21\/22 is New Mexico’s response to the U.S. Supreme Court’s Sackett v. EPA decision in 2023, which resulted in the loss of federal protections for nearly all of the state’s streams, rivers, and wetlands\u2014with New Mexico not having an all-inclusive groundwater discharge permitting system left the unprotected waters vulnerable, named the most engaged in the United States by American Rivers in 2024. The new state-level permit system for pollutant discharges into the surface water creates the authority for New Mexico to enforce the federal Clean Water Act, regardless of federal protection status. Additionally, the state will focus on polluted groundwater, directly place cleanup accountability on polluters, and establish a dedicated funding source.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The anticipated benefits of SB 21<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n SB 21\/22 outlines a dedicated funding source to support the cleanup of New Mexico’s contaminated sites through responding, investigating, and remediating, and all polluters bear the burden of costs to clean up their pollution, not state tax dollars. Initially, SB 21\/22 planned to appropriate a $50 million fund for groundwater cleanup efforts and surface water quality fees and penalties directed to a water quality management fund for administering the new permit rules similar to the final bill. The final bill also establishes penalties for violations of the PDES Act, including fines and imprisonment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n With the implementation of SB 21\/22, similar to the federal Clean Water Act, there are exemptions. An exemption may include traditional farming and ranching activities and associated acequia operations to remove unneeded regulatory burdens on essential agricultural practices, only existing surface waters in farm production, and if the discharge is nontoxic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n New Mexico will move forward to establish a comprehensive state permitting program. It may look to get authorization from the U.S. EPA for surface water permitting, which would be one of the few remaining states to do this. Overall, New Mexicans will have greater control over the quality of surface waters. Developing and implementing a permit will not happen overnight, and it will likely take a few years to be fully effective; this is a critical first step and a long-term commitment to secure the future of essential water resources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Source:<\/strong> SB 21\/22 – WATER QUALITY & POLLUTION<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Written by: Andrew Kalemba<\/a>, Operations Specialist at the Southwest EFC <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Featured Image by\u00a0Brigitte Werner<\/a>\u00a0from\u00a0Pixabay<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" New Mexico Senate Bill 21\/22 was signed into law on April 8, 2025, bringing together the Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (PDES) Act and Water Quality Act amendments in a single piece of legislation to ensure water quality protections and water resources are safe and sustainable. The goal of SB 21\/22 is to improve and restore overall clean water protections. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":242424,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"\n This is the first post in a series following SW EFC staff as we get our feet wet at four very different water and wastewater systems across the country. In the next three blogs in this series, we\u2019ll visit water treatment facilities in New Mexico, Florida and New Hampshire.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n When I accompanied my girlfriend on a work trip in the coastal town of Arcata, California, I wasn\u2019t expecting to find inspiration for my own work assisting water and wastewater systems at the SW EFC. I was out birding on our first morning there, marveling at the diversity of species, when I realized the meandering path I was taking was actually part of a system of treatment ponds for the town\u2019s municipal wastewater treatment facility. The grounds looked like a park or wildlife reserve, not like any of the wastewater treatment facilities I\u2019d visited before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Arcata Marsh and Wildlife Sanctuary<\/a> is a beautiful and functional combination of wastewater treatment for the town\u2019s approximately 19,000 residents, and also one of the Northern California Coast\u2019s top birding spots in terms of biodiversity, according to Cornell Lab\u2019s eBird app.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I returned the next day for a self-guided tour of the wastewater treatment system. The Arcata Marsh Interpretive Center<\/a> provided a map, brochures and advice for spots I should be sure to hit if I was interested in the whole treatment process (of course I was). Most of that process is visible and accessible to the public through a series of bike and foot paths.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n Though \u201cstage 4\u201d, the Enhancement Wetlands, is the area where I went birding and what the public thinks of as Arcata Marsh, I noticed an abundance of birds and wildlife in every part of this system. Swallows dive among the eaves of the headworks buildings, California quail parade atop composting piles of removed biosolids, geese and mallards are raising their babies along the edges of the oxidation ponds, and otters swim in brackish tidal wetlands. This is a treatment facility designed with wildlife and public use in mind. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Whether you\u2019re an industry professional or just curious about where your water comes from and where it goes after you use it, touring treatment facilities like this one is a fun and engaging way to learn about water systems. Most municipal treatment facilities have websites and options to sign up for public tours: see the resources below for examples from the Arcata plant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
How will this be funded?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
What’s next? <\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Overview of the 5 stages of wastewater treatment at Arcata Marsh:<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Resources:<\/h2>\n\n\n\n