Amigos Bravos 2022 Annual Report

Holding Polluters Accountable
AMIGOS BRAVOS FOUGHT HARD AND WON TO GET SURFACE WATER
QUALITY STANDARDS STRENGTHENED
After years of work and participation in a week-long hearing where we put forth 4 technical witnesses,
Amigos Bravos was successful in making New Mexico’s Water Quality Standards more protective.
The Triennial Review of Water Quality Standards is a recurring process in front of the New Mexico
Water Quality Control Commission (WQCC) to evaluate and make changes to the state standards.
It is these standards that set the goal post for all other water quality policy decisions in the state and
it is therefore critically important these standards are strong enough to protect all the uses, including
irrigation, swimming, boating, aquatic and wildlife habitat, and livestock watering of our state’s rivers,
streams, and lakes.
VICTORIES INCLUDE:
≈ Amigos Bravos fought hard and won to
defeat dirty water proposals from industry that
would have weakened the standard for Toxic
Pollutants and ability to adequately monitor
for PFAS and PCBs in our state waters.
≈ Getting a definition and monitoring
provisions for “Contaminants of Emerging
Concern” which include new contaminants
such as pharmaceuticals and industrial toxins.
≈ Adding climate change language to the
objectives and definitions sections of the
standards.
≈ Increasing protections in 5 streams to
ensure they are safe for swimming.
≈ Upgrading standards on several waters
on Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL)
property.
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