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The Issues

The Problem

Bishop’s Lodge and Auberge Resorts are dumping dangerous wastewater 

Following years of battling failing water treatment facilities, Bishop’s Lodge and Auberge Resorts installed a new wastewater disposal system in 2024 that now discharges partially treated sewage from its resort and over 80 homes into a grossly undersized leach field. This system is highly inadequate and poses serious health threats to the residents of the Tesuque Valley and four neighboring Native Pueblos.

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A primary threat is due to a system incapable of filtering out a variety of harmful contaminants that include pharmaceutical residues, FAS and other toxins linked to severe health risks and long-term environmental damage. The second threat is a leach field that is located dangerously close — just 100 feet away — from Little Tesuque Creek, the primary water supply for dozens of downstream private drinking wells and acequias.

The state and county are not enforcing the laws that should prevent them from contaminating our water

The Bishop’s Lodge Resort’s treatment system is in direct violation of the New Mexico Liquid Waste Regulations specifically designed to protect communities from on-site contamination. Despite that, the New Mexico Environmental Department (NMED) approved a wastewater discharge permit that allows the resort to discharge up to 30,000 gallons of partially treated effluent into the leach field every day. This system completely fails to meet the engineering, siting, and contamination safeguards required by our state laws.

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Now, the state is trying to bypass the Liquid Water Regulations and instead apply the much more permissive Water Quality Act framework. Doing so ignores key legal mandates and effectively allows Bishop’s Lodge to operate what amounts to an “open sewer,” with no requirement to test for many dangerous contaminants, no ongoing groundwater monitoring, and no accountability for the pollution risks it places onto neighboring families. 

 

This case is not just an isolated case of poor permitting. It is a dangerous precedent that, if unchallenged, will signal that wealthy developers can bypass environmental pretexts while rural communities bear the risks — contaminated water, degraded land, and a government unwilling to act.

It is up to us to ensure clean drinking water now and for future generations

All of this inspired hundreds of local residents to stand up and create Protect Tesuque, a non-profit organization that is organizing the fight against the contamination of our water through this unlawful water disposal system and a state government that is turning a blind eye to the needs of its residents and its own laws.

Our Solution

Protect Tesuque has been fighting this action since the summer of 2024 through community mobilization, protests, media and legislative outreach, and a key legal strategy.

Our aim is to have NMED apply and enforce the Liquid Waste Regulations under the Environmental Improvement Act of 1971, that applies to all of us, to Bishops’s Lodge Resort and the Hills & Villas. Our Writ of Mandamus asks the New Mexico Supreme Court to order NMED to follow the law.

Bishop’s Lodge Resort must implement alternative disposal methods that prevent contamination of the aquifer, Tesuque Creek, downstream wells and the ecology of the Valley.

Our Solution is YOU! Organize with others, donate to our scientific and legal efforts, participate in events and protests, write to your legislators and other officials and come to the May 19th NMED hearing. Together we will protect Tesuque.

What’s Next

We continue to build on the momentum created to date to push for stronger statewide enforcement, transparency in permitting, and real accountability for those who pollute. Protect Tesuque’s legal team is preparing its next steps.

Stay informed! Subscribe to our newsletter to:

– Stay up to date on legal actions

– Learn how you can support next phases

– Know what we’re asking of state agencies, legislators, media, and allies

 

Key community asks:

• Spread the word by sharing our website, newsletter updates and social media posts with others who care about clean water.

• Attend our monthly meetings.

• Donate to fund legal preparations and expert witnesses.

• Contact elected officials regarding your concerns.

• Join our protests.

Stay tuned. Stay engaged. Together change happens.

Our Goals

Stop The Dumping

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Stop Bishop’s Lodge, Auberge Resorts and the Bishop’s Lodge Hills and Villas from contaminating our drinking water.

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Protect Our Water

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Ensure immediate adoption of an environmentally sound solution for disposal of the sewage generated by the Resort and the Hills and Villas.

Ensure Our Future

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Secure prompt adoption and enforcement by County and State governments of suitable sewage and waste disposal regulations to protect the quality and viability of Tesuque Basin’s drinking water, acequias and ecosystem.