About the Tres Piedras Water Association

A BRIEF HISTORY of the TRES PIEDRAS MUTUAL DOMESTIC WATER CONSUMERS ASSOCIATION

The Water Association was first incorporated in May of 1951. It was in existence for a few years prior to incorporation and was incorporated as a non-profit, member owned mutual domestic water consumers association more than fifty years ago. The first membership list consisted of less than thirty members. As of early 2002, 163 memberships had been recorded and the Association is extending its term of incorporation perpetually.

Today the Association has approximately eight miles of distribution lines, 64,000 gallons of water storage, two wells, automatic controls on the pumping system and new valves and controls allowing isolation of separate parts of the system in case of line breaks or other emergencies.

The water system improvement project completed in 1999, thanks to a grant from the New Mexico Environment Department, allowed for much need upgrades to distribution lines and more water storage. Since 2000, the system has been upgraded with new radio-read meters allowing for meter reading during winter months, a refurbished water storage tank and a Preliminary Engineering Report as a first step in a projected new well and other upgrades to the system.

The Tres Piedras Water Association is one of almost forty mutual domestic water associations in Taos County, New Mexico. What is unique about all these systems is that, unlike water systems in more populated areas, they have been built, operated and funded mostly by the members/owners served by the association. With the exception of a couple of small grants years ago, the Tres Piedras Water Association was built by the residents of the community who furnished their labor for much of the work and assessed themselves monthly fees to fund most projects. Thousands of dollars were spent over the years, a great deal of which was for interest on loans from FHA. The Association has been debt free since 1996.

In 2008, under the New Mexico Sanitary Projects Act, the Tres Piedras Water Association was advised of status as a political subdivision of the state and a government entitiy. Since that time we have operated under the New Mexico Environment Department and have now to comply with many government regulations and procedures that were not in effect before that time.

We find ourselves today with an excellent system that is up-to-date with New Mexico Clean Drinking Water Standards. Your membership in the Tres Piedras Water Association makes you a partner in our community mission to provide clean, safe drinking water to the residents of our community.