At the entrance of a luxury resort nestled in the foothills of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, Cathie Sullivan, a resident of Tesuque since 1966, waved a banner reading: "Bishop's Lodge, Keep Your Polluted Water Out of Tesuque's Groundwater!" She and other concerned Tesuque residents are speaking out against plans by Bishop's Lodge to discharge treated wastewater into an on-site leach field, maintaining the drain field for the effluent would be "immediately adjacent" to Little Tesuque Creek. This comes several months after the resort changed course in response to community outcry about its previous proposal to dispose of its effluent from a new wastewater treatment plant — by discharging the treated water directly into Little Tesuque Creek. Bishop's Lodge representatives argue the new plans are environmentally sound and will follow state and federal environmental standards.
They also say some Tesuque residents who were concerned about the resort's former wastewater proposal had asked for a leach field. But Protect Tesuque, an organization formed in response to the initial water treatment plan, says the location of the proposed new leach field — so close to Little Tesuque Creek — would threaten "hundreds" of downstream domestic water wells. "From our perspective, this is no different from, and perhaps worse than, putting it into the creek because it's going to go right into the aquifer, and that aquifer supplies the drinking water for hundreds, if not thousands, of peopl.
