Toxic Legacy: Chromium Plume Reaches Native American Community
A significant environmental crisis is unfolding in New Mexico as a mile-long plume of toxic, cancer-linked chromium has spread for the first time onto the lands of the Pueblo de San Ildefonso, a Native American community. This underground body of contaminated water, the result of decades of flushed-out coolant from a power plant at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, is raising serious concerns about potential health risks and water safety for local residents.
Contamination Exceeds Safety Standards
The New Mexico Environment Department has confirmed that contamination levels are now exceeding state groundwater standards. Recent sampling reveals concentrations of hexavalent chromium measuring between 53 to 72.9 micrograms per litre, significantly above the permitted 50 micrograms per litre limit.
This environmental issue dates back to the laboratory's operations between 1956 and 1972, when workers routinely discharged contaminated water from the site's non-nuclear power plant into Sandia Canyon. The chromium was originally used as an anti-corrosion agent in the plant's cooling towers to prevent pipe rusting.
Discovered in 2004, the plume originates from beneath the US Department of Energy's Los Alamos National Laboratory, a historically significant site that played a central role in developing the first atomic bomb during World War II.
Inadequate Containment Efforts
State and federal officials have worked for years to address the problem, installing numerous monitoring wells and a water treatment system designed to remove hexavalent chromium from the Sandia Canyon regional aquifer. However, these measures have proven insufficient.
Bruce Baizel, Director of Compliance and Enforcement, stated unequivocally in a press release: "These new results are conclusive evidence that the U.S. Department of Energy's efforts to contain the chromium plume have been inadequate." He emphasised that while drinking water supplies remain safe for now, the Department of Energy must take immediate and definitive actions.
The situation worsened when a pump-and-treat operation, which involved extracting contaminated water, treating it, and reinjecting it into the plume, was halted in 2023 after monitoring wells detected increasing chromium levels. Although partial treatment resumed earlier this year following an independent review, officials believe this very process may have contributed to the plume's recent spread onto tribal lands.
John Rhoderick, Environment Department Deputy Cabinet Secretary, told The Independent that the Department of Energy had ceased injection operations following a Tuesday letter from his department. He argued that while pumping and treating remains the correct solution, it needs to be implemented more aggressively and with better strategic planning—something he claims the Department of Energy has failed to prioritise.
Community Impact and Health Concerns
The affected area includes the communities of Los Alamos and White Rock, home to nearly 20,000 people, and the Pueblo de San Ildefonso—a federally recognised tribe with approximately 750 members whose history in the region dates back to 1300 A.D.
Pueblo Governor Christopher Moquino declared in a statement: "We will be taking all action necessary to ensure cleanup and accountability for this contamination. No level of chromium above natural background levels in our water is acceptable to the Pueblo."
The health implications are particularly alarming. According to the Oregon Health Authority, long-term exposure to hexavalent chromium significantly increases cancer risks. Inhalation can cause cancers of the nose, windpipe and lungs, while consumption through contaminated drinking water or food may lead to stomach and digestive cancers.
This contamination crisis compounds existing environmental challenges in New Mexico, where communities already face frequent droughts and water shortages exacerbated by human-caused climate change. Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham has projected that by the time today's high school graduates reach retirement age, the state will have 25% less water than it does currently.
Rachel Conn, Deputy Director of water conservation organisation Amigos Bravos, expressed the community's frustration: "Water is so scarce and so precious in our state that to hear that the resource that we need for the future has been contaminated and we've known about this contamination for 20 years and it's still migrating is just unacceptable."
The New Mexico Environment Department is now pursuing civil enforcement actions against the US Department of Energy regarding this matter, while continuing to monitor the plume's movement—currently located about five miles from the Rio Grande, which flows through Colorado and Texas near the Santa Fe National Forest.
