A controversial sewage disposal process by a luxury resort in northern New Mexico has advanced as a permanent way of doing things in the wake of a higher court ruling.
Residents of Tesuque Village, some 6 miles to the north of Santa Fe, have said that they are opposed to the sewage plan proposed by Bishop’s Lodge, a resort nestled in the foothills of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains.
Several months ago, the New Mexico Environment Department gave its approval to a draft permit for the resort that would allow for the discharging of up to 30,000 gallons per day of treated wastewater.
That wastewater would be pushed into what has been described as a “low-dose disposal field” using a treatment plant that was installed last year.
But residents of Tesuque, which has a population of just over 1,000 people, charged that the wastewater would inevitably contaminate the downstream drinking wells they use daily.
A community activist group called Protect Tesuque subsequently charged that the Bishop’s Lodge proposal would ultimately dump “partially treated sewage” into an “undersized leach field that is dangerously close to the Little Tesuque Creek.”
That field is located around 75 to 100 feet from the creek.
The group added that the system is “highly inadequate and poses serious health threats to the residents of the Tesuque Valley and four neighboring Native Pueblos.”
Bishop’s Lodge, which is part of a collective of hotels and resorts belonging to the Bethesda-based Auberge Resorts Collection, has contended that the disposal field is both environmentally sound and will be in compliance with both New Mexico and federal standards.
On July 8 members of the New Mexico Supreme Court ruled against a suit filed by Protect Tesuque, essentially overturning an earlier state order pausing the process. That ruling means that it will ultimately be up to the Environment Department to issue a permit.
In a statement, a representative for Bishop’s Lodge praised the ruling, and said the resort will continue to use state-of-the art wastewater treatment processes “under the existing permit from the department.”
July 10, 2025
By Garry Boulard
Photo courtesy of Pixabay
