Water emergency follows forest fire

RUIDOSO, N.M. (KRQE) - The Ruidoso area has been through a lot this year.

The Little Bear Fire burned more than 200 homes, and now it's caused a severe water problem forcing the village of Ruidoso to declare a water emergency.

It's been more than three months since the Little Bear Fire devoured the homes and more than 44,000 acres near Ruidoso.

On Friday officials met with the Federal Emergency Management Agency to continue recovery plans.

"We don't wait and see what's going to happen," Ruidoso Village Manager Debi Lee said.  "We start working quickly to try to recover, and so that's what we've been doing."

Although the village survived the fire, much of its watershed suffered. Thursday Ruidoso declared a water emergency and imposed Phase Five restrictions.  

"There will be no outside watering; you can still water your flowers and vegetables with hand watering," explained Lee. "We'll ask restaurants to only provide drinking water on request."

Grindstone Lake, which supplies water to 30 percent of the village, is at an all time low 46 feet below the spillway.
     
Rain runoff from the mountains collects silt and ash, and Ruidoso can no longer collect surface water to refill reservoirs.

"So now we're having to interconnect our wells so that we can re-divert the water and pull from groundwater to supply our residents," Lee explained.

Aside from wells, just six weeks of water supply remains at Grindstone, and water at the lower depths is murky.

Lee said the village is getting complaints from people about their water being a brownish tint. She said the color is a mixture of Grindstone Lake being so low and the treatment they're putting the water through.

"It is drinkable; it's safe," said Lee. "They test it constantly through the day, and the environmental department, like I said, is monitoring it very closely."

In the next 30 days, Grindstone will be cut off, and the village will rely solely on wells for water supply. That is, until new lines are put in, and reservoirs can be used again.  

"We're wanting people to voluntarily comply and help us just monitor the drinking water or the water supply until we can get through this difficult time," said Lee.

Those who violate the water restrictions can be fined. FEMA is helping with costs for infrastructure that will deliver water to the village.

They haven't come up with concrete numbers yet, but say it'll likely to cost millions.