A storm drain leak Monday morning led to 18,000 gallons of raw sewage entering the Animas River on the southwest side of Aztec.
Interim Aztec City Manager Troy Morris said the city was made aware of it at 7 a.m. and crews from Aztec public works, the city of Bloomfield and Sychar LLC and Tri Energy Services were on-site at the Hartman Park Lift Station by 8:30 a.m.
“They mobilized, shot down there and dealt with the issue,” Morris said. “The complaint was water was coming from the ground and it smelled like sewer.”
The city estimated 18,000 gallons of raw sewage entered the storm drain before it was covered, and approximately 900 more gallons entered the storm drain while it was covered, before the vacuum truck arrived to start pumping out the raw sewage.
“The good news was they looked at the river, and it looks clear,” Morris said.
The Office of Emergency Management was notified of the incident, and Emergency Management Director Mike Mestas said he notified water users along the ditch. That included Flora Vista Water Users, the city of Farmington, and Lower Valley Water Users in Kirtland.
“We are offering assistance to them, and we were not breached,” Mestas said, adding Bonnie Hopkins from the extension office notified the farmers and ranchers in the area. “We work as a team.”
Farmington City Manager Shana Reeves said when her people found out “we were managing it.”
The city of Farmington was on ditch rotation, so the river pumps into Lake Farmington were “shut off.”
“It has not gotten to our lake,” Reeves said, adding the last update she received was at 2:30 p.m. and “the river was not discolored.”
The state engineer also was notified and “just asked the irrigation ditch to shut down for 24 hours,” Reeves said.