Knut Johnson, Senior Counsel at Singleton Schreiber's law office in San Diego, was recently featured in Source NM's article, "Lawsuit Filed Over Arsenic Levels in Water From Southern New Mexico Utility".
The article provides an overview on the recent environmental lawsuit filed against the Camino Real Regional Utility Authority (CRRUA) by Santa Teresa and Sunland Park residents on the basis that CRRUA had violated the 2021 New Mexico Civil Rights Act when they failed to provide safe drinking water for over a year without publicly notifying customers that they were consuming arsenic-contaminated water, that CRRUA had a history of violating arsenic standards, and the monetary & corrective actions that the plaintiffs are seeking in light of CRRUA's additional allegations of negligence, unfair business practices, and the harm they've done to Southern New Mexican residents.
“When a utility, like CRRUA, has an obligation to provide citizens clean drinking water, not to hide really important details about that water, like that it contains arsenic – that violates the New Mexico Civil Rights Act,” said Mr. Johnson.
“It tells us what all the principal actors in the area knew about, and what they didn’t do about it, including telling the public about it for many, many years,” he said, adding, “We would like to secure compensation for the residents affected by the health and financial impacts of the contaminated water. . . [and]. . .we want to demand corrective action, to ensure safe drinking water for Sunland Park, moving forward.”
