The City of Las Vegas water system is issuing this NEW mandatory boil water advisory due to a violation of drinking water turbidity standards at the water treatment plant.

This advisory follows previous boil water advisories issued in recent days. The first advisory was precautionary due to low system pressure and localized water outages. The second advisory was mandatory as more areas of the city lost water service, increasing the risk of contamination. This new advisory is being issued because turbidity (cloudiness) levels in the treated surface water exceeded the maximum allowable limit on February 17, 2025. High turbidity can interfere with disinfection and increase the risk of harmful microorganisms being present in the water.

The City of Las Vegas will continue working closely with the New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) to address these ongoing water quality concerns. The boil water advisory will remain in effect until treatment plant operations and overall system stability have been restored. The advisory will only be lifted once NMED has reviewed the situation and determined that the water is safe for consumption.

What should I do? What does this mean?

• DO NOT DRINK THE WATER WITHOUT BOILING IT FIRST. Bring all water to a boil, let it boil for one minute, and let it cool before using, or use bottled water. Boiled or bottled water should be used for drinking, making ice, brushing teeth, washing dishes, and food preparation until further notice. Boiling kills bacteria and other organisms in the water.

• Turbidity has no health effects. However, turbidity can interfere with disinfection and provide a medium for microbial

• growth. Turbidity may indicate the presence of disease causing organisms. These organisms include bacteria, viruses, and parasites, which can cause symptoms such as nausea, cramps, diarrhea, and associated headaches.

• The symptoms above are not caused only by organisms in drinking water. If you experience any of these symptoms and they persist, you may want to seek medical advice. People at increased risk should seek advice from their health care providers about drinking this water.

What is being done?

The City of Las Vegas is taking all appropriate steps to rectify this problem including repairing damaged infrastructure such as broken lines and water filters, adjusting treatment processes such as monitoring chemical levels and disinfecting the water supply.  We are also sampling both untreated and treated water for the presence of coliform bacteria.  When the repairs to the water system are completed, we will conduct special monitoring to ensure that the system is free of microbial contamination. 

We will inform you when turbidity returns to appropriate levels and when you no longer need to boil your water. We anticipate resolving the problem within the next two weeks.

For more information, please contact Travis Martinez at 505-454-1401 or 905 12th Street, Las Vegas, NM 87701.

General guidelines on ways to lessen the risk of infection by microbes are available from the EPA Safe Drinking Water Hotline at 1-800-426-4791.

Please share this information with all the other people who drink this water, especially those who may not have received this notice directly (for example, people in apartments, nursing homes, schools, and businesses). You can do this by posting this notice in a public place or distributing copies by hand or mail.