June 17th, 2022
Last year, Niagara Bottling Company wanted to more than double their water consumption to a whopping 650 acre-feeft per year. Valencia Water Watchers, county residents, and local farmers stood up to them and they backed down. But now they’re back and asking for an astounding 700-acre feet per year of OUR WATER! That is 1.6 Million MORE gallons of our water over their original request! In the middle of a historic drought, in the middle of a desert, when our aquifer is shrinking, our water is needed for our people and farmers, not for Niagara’s profit.
Year after year, water-bottling corporations like Niagara take millions of gallons of water from local communities – water that the people in those communities need for their lives and livelihoods. Los Lunas cannot continue to cater to big water consumers like Niagara. Tell Mayor Griego and the Village Council that their decisions are harming all the people of Valencia County and that we won’t stand for this increasing threat to our water. Tell the Mayor and the Village Council that they need to say “NO to Niagara!”
We are not anti-industry or anti-economic-development – We are PRO-WATER, PRO-PEOPLE, and PRO-FARMER. It is not reasonable to ask farmers not to farm while Niagara sucks up millions of gallons of our water from our aquifer, to bottle and sell for their own profit. It is not reasonable to continue sucking millions of gallons of our water from our aquifer when more and more county residents are faced with having to drill new and deeper domestic wells as the water table continues to drop. It is not reasonable for five elected officials to hand off millions of gallons of our water from our aquifer for the financial benefit of the Village when there is not enough water for the people of the entire county to thrive.
Here are 3 actions you can take:
2. Send emails to the Village of Los Lunas Commissioners and the mayor! Let them know to please vote no for Niagara’s request for more water from our aquifer.
Their emails are:
Councilor Christopher Ortiz District 1 OrtizC@loslunasnm.gov
Councilor Gino Romero District 2 RomeroG@loslunasnm.gov
Councilor Cruz Munoz District 3 MunozCr@loslunasnm.gov
Councilor James Runyon District 4 RunyonJ@loslunasnm.gov
Mayor Charles Griego GriegoC@loslunasnm.gov
3. Please show up on Thursday, June 23rd to the Los Lunas Council meeting (660 Main Street, Los Lunas) to either sign up to give public comment OR be part of filling the council chambers with concerned citizens. The meeting begins at 6 pm but if you want to give public comment, please arrive at 5:30 to sign your name on the list. Click here to go to the Facebook event page!
Please find us on our Valencia Water Watchers Facebook page for the latest updates on this topic and information about how to get involved – or email valencia.water.watchers@gmail.com.
Thank you!
Valencia Water Watchers (VWW) 