High Country News, a magazine for "people who care about the West," has in its Dec. 12 issue an article that features Mora, N.M., a small community that is having challenges with its water systems.
In laying out the challenges, the article says:
The lagoons need repairs, and even when they're working properly, they weren't designed to reduce algae-fueling nutrients -- nitrogen and phosphorous -- enough to meet up-to-date water-quality standards. But building a treatment plant to meet those standards, which originated in a 1997 environmentalist lawsuit against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, would cost around $7 million.
RCAP does not necessarily agree or endorse the opinions of this magazine or the articles it runs but is sharing the link to the article as an illustration of the challenges that small, rural communities often face in complying with drinking water and wastewater regulations. RCAP assists many small communities like this one with the same challenges that this community faces, and it does this not only in the West but across the United States.