Despite pivot from Bishop's Lodge, wastewater concern runs high in Tesuque

Nov. 19—At the entrance of a luxury resort nestled in the foothills of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, Cathie Sullivan, a resident of Tesuque since 1966, waved a banner reading: "Bishop's Lodge, Keep Your Polluted Water Out of Tesuque's Groundwater!"

She and other concerned Tesuque residents are speaking out against plans by Bishop's Lodge to discharge treated wastewater into an on-site leach field, maintaining the drain field for the effluent would be "immediately adjacent" to Little Tesuque Creek.

This comes several months after the resort changed course in response to community outcry about its previous proposal to dispose of its effluent from a new wastewater treatment plant — by discharging the treated water directly into Little Tesuque Creek. Bishop's Lodge representatives argue the new plans are environmentally sound and will follow state and federal environmental standards.

They also say some Tesuque residents who were concerned about the resort's former wastewater proposal had asked for a leach field.

But Protect Tesuque, an organization formed in response to the initial water treatment plan, says the location of the proposed new leach field — so close to Little Tesuque Creek — would threaten "hundreds" of downstream domestic water wells.

"From our perspective, this is no different from, and perhaps worse than, putting it into the creek because it's going to go right into the aquifer, and that aquifer supplies the drinking water for hundreds, if not thousands, of people immediately downstream," Tesuque resident Rusty Day said.

The New Mexico Environment Department disagrees.

Agency spokesperson Jorge Armando Estrada wrote in an email "effluent seeping into the aquifer is expected and if operated properly the wastewater being discharged [by] Bishop's Lodge is not a concern to NMED or downstream water wells."

So the monthslong saga marches on.

Some of the resort's neighbors routinely protest near its entrance on weekends, videos on social media show.

Resort pivots

Bishop's Lodge submitted an application to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency proposing to send treated wastewater from a new plant into the creek, spurring opposition in the summer. In a statement issued in August, the lodge announced it would pursue an on-site leach field instead, in response to neighbors' concerns.

It has since requested a permit modification and renewal from the state Environment Department to discharge 30,000 gallons of effluent per day into a leach field.

Eric Sirotkin, a member of the Protect Tesuque steering committee who said he lives "three doors down" from the resort, told The New Mexican in August he was celebrating its decision to change course.

"The community organized, and they listened to the community," Sirotkin said. "They backed off a plan to dump in their neighbor's yard — and that is being a good neighbor."

He sounded less celebratory this week. The new plan is problematic because of the leach field's proximity to the creek, he said

"They pivoted, which is great. But you can't pivot and contaminate my well," Sirotkin said. "I live on the Little Tesuque Creek."

Meredith Sestito of California-based communications firm Murphy O'Brien, which represents Bishop's Lodge, did not answer several questions about the issue. Instead, she said, in a statement, "Bishop's Lodge and Bishop's Lodge Hills & Villas Community have replaced its old wastewater treatment system, which dates back to the mid-1970s, by installing a new, advanced wastewater treatment facility designed to meet or exceed water quality standards of state regulatory agencies including the New Mexico Environment Department and Water Quality Control Commission."

She added, "Further, based on the requests of the local community, Bishop's Lodge has taken the additional step of adding an onsite leach field."

Neither Armando Estrada nor representatives of the resort provided information about the exact location of the leach field.

"The location of the disposal field is also not concerning to NMED and complies with the same permitting regulations which were written to protect ground water for present and future use as domestic or agricultural water supply," Armando Estrada wrote in an email.

The new system

The resort's old treatment plant, built in the mid-1970s, hasn't functioned properly for years, leading the owners to pump wastewater into trucks that haul it to the Santa Fe wastewater treatment plant; the method has been describe as inefficient and costly.

Bishop's Lodge's newly constructed wastewater treatment plant, a membrane bioreactor, can treat wastewater to produce a "much better" quality of effluent than the current and outdated system, according to a document prepared by the Environment Department.

The new plant will treat wastewater for the resort, which has about 100 rooms, as well as the roughly 80 homes at the nearby Bishop's Lodge Hills and Villas.

Bishop's Lodge will need approval from the Environment Department to build a leach field but not an EPA permit. If the state agency approves its permit renewal and modification request, the resort plans to withdraw its EPA permit application, according to a news release it issued in August.

The resort's current discharge permit, issued in 2019, allows it to send up to 14,760 gallons per day of effluent into two underground disposal fields.

The Environment Department provided renderings for the new leach field showing it would be 5,000 square feet with a trench length of 1,093 feet.

A public hearing on the permit change, including the leach field, is planned but not yet scheduled. Armando Estrada wrote in an email it "will include multiple opportunities for members of the public to provide public comment verbally or in writing."

He noted disposal into a leach field or subsurface disposal field has been included in every discharge permit since 1979 for Bishop's Lodge, when permitting at the resort began.

Santa Fe County spokesperson Olivia Romo wrote in an email the county approved a permit for site development and excavation for the leach field in August.

Late last year, the county approved a plan for the wastewater treatment facility.

"The County's scope of development review is limited to ensuring that the construction and excavation comply with the standards set forth in the Sustainable Land Development Code," Romo wrote.

Lingering concerns

Day contends the resort should "do the appropriate thing" and "find a sane and safe place to build a leach field somewhere on their property that isn't going to impact the stream and the aquifer."

He also suggested the resort could send its wastewater to a municipal plant through a pipe, though he acknowledged that could be expensive.

Viviette Hunt, who produces a weekly newsletter for Protect Tesuque, said about 400 people have signed up to receive it, indicating the concern is widespread in the community of about 1,000 north of Santa Fe.

Susan Waldman, who lives on Bishops Lodge Road, also expressed concern. She has lived in the area for about a year and a half — the first time she has not been on a municipal water system.

"It's kind of horrifying that someone down the road who has very different interests than ours can do kind of [what they] want when it will have such a large impact on all the people in the community," she said.

Bernadette Romero-Jaramillo, whose family has called the community home since the 1800s, also is opposed to the resort's plan.

"We've been here for many years," she said. "So this is very dear to my family, and the rest of the community on the importance of trying to protect our water."