Leaky dam key to city's water problems: But feds, wetlands won't allow quick fix

From KRQE-TV.com - A Las Vegas, N.M. dam that leaks millions of gallons of water every year needs to be fixed in order to solve the city’s escalating water woes. But even if city officials could come up with the millions it will take to permanently fix the problem, the federal government won’t let them make the repairs. That’s because Peterson Dam – one of the oldest operating dams in the state – has been leaking for more than two decades, said Ken Garcia, the city’s utility director. Those leaks, in turn, have created a wetlands area downstream and the federal government, which regulates wetlands, won’t let the city destroy them. And that is a huge problem because the city of Las Vegas now has only a two-month supply of water left. It is spending about $4 million on short-term fixes that should keep the taps flowing in the near future. So until the city figures out how to either preserve the wetlands or create a new wetlands in another area, nothing can be done to fix the leak. And that doesn’t sit well with either Mayor Ortiz or Gov. Susana Martinez. “We should not maintain a wetland that just happened to be created due to a leaky dam and then say, ‘People of Las Vegas you don’t have water and you’re not going to be allowed to fix that dam either,’ ” Martinez told News 13. “It makes no sense. We have to put the people of Las Vegas first.” Read more