Los Lunas – Niagara Bottled Water
The Village of Los Lunas Councilors voted 3:2 to double the amount of groundwater this California corporation pumps from Village well to sell in plastic bottles. They authorized the company’s water extraction to double, to 195 million gallons per year. The approval for more water taking was allowed despite the presentation of Village water consultants, Lee Wilson and Associations, at the meeting, that Niagara Bottling had run over its allotted amount of water usage almost every month since it began in 2017.
“Water belongs to the people. Period. It is not for corporate profit,” said Alejandria Lyons, who grew up in Valencia County and has a masters degree in community planning. “This valley was created on subsistence farming, on the cultures, on Isleta Pueblo specifically, who have not been able to have a say on this [Niagra] expansion issue,” Lyons spoke at the recent rally calling attention to the recent vote by Los Lunas village council giving the green light for Niagara Bottling expansion to take more water for bottling in plastic bottles from the Rio Grande Basin.
Mayor Charles Griego’s surprising announcement at the February 8 meeting,, “We are not… Clearly NOT going to be opening this up for any public comment,” which shut down all public comment, still resonates among the community. Griego’s undemocratic move has ignited a firestorm of criticism.
Mayor Griego and Councilors Ortiz and Runyon supported the expansion, while Councilors Romero and Munoz opposed it. Despite opposition from Pueblo of Isleta leadership and the Mayors of Peralta and Bosque Farms, community leaders were not allowed to speak at the meeting.
In an interview on DPVC Radio, Mayor of Peralta, Byran Olguin said, ‘What really frustrates me is not one word was said about the farmers in this Middle Rio Grande Valley and how they are going to be impacted.’

Following the vote, Valencia Water Watchers organized a rally where residents gathered at Los Lunas Memorial Park, vowing to continue the fight against what they perceive as corporate overreach at the expense of the community’s water resources. The gathering served as a rallying cry for those committed to protecting their water rights from exploitation for corporate gain.
NM Acequia Association came bringing signs that read, “Agua es Vida” and brightly painted shovels painted with the patron saint of the acequias, San Ysidro, which they bring out when there are times of drought. Dabi Garcia said, “This is a time when our community is under threat.” He then sang a traditional acequia song, keeping the beat on the shovel handle. YUCCA member Zypher Jaramillo, from the Pueblo of Isleta said, “As Pueblo People our lifeways are inextricably connected. Water is not a resource but a relative and needs to be protected.”

Does Los Lunas profit financially by allowing our precious water to be taken and bottled in plastic, plastic which will eventually only add to our environmental challenges??