Environmental Contaminants Water Quality
Triennial Review of New Mexico Surface Water Quality Standards
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The New Mexico Ecological Services Field Office participates in the Triennial Review of Water Quality Standards
for Surface Waters of New Mexico to seek additional protection for fish, wildlife, and their habitats. We support
the adoption of water quality standards that enhance the quality of water, and achieve a level of water quality
that provides for the protection of fish, shellfish, and wildlife, for recreation in and on the water, for fish
and wildlife consumption, and for the restoration and maintenance of the chemical, physical, and biological
integrity of the surface waters and aquatic habitats of New Mexico. We often participate with the State or Native
American Tribes in their Triennial Review of Water Quality Standards to seek adjustments in the standards or
alternative criteria such as sediment criteria, tissue concentration criteria, and wildlife criteria to better
protect wildlife and their habitats.
Pollution can include any alteration of the physical, chemical, biological, or radiological qualities of our
surface waters. Examples of pollution include toxic chemical spills, invasive nuisance species, degradation of
habitat, fish consumption advisories, contamination of sediment, radiological discharges, and the physical
alteration of New Mexico's aquatic ecosystems. Over 90 per cent of the water quality impairments identified in
New Mexico's surface waters are due to nonpoint sources that include lack of proper forest management, invasive
riparian plants, agricultural and urban runoff, recreation, hydromodification, and resource extraction. Aquatic
nuisances species also seriously threaten the diversity and abundance of native species and the ecological
integrity and use of surface waters for agriculture, industry, recreation, and aquatic life. In order to focus
on the ecological integrity and restoration of water quality, we encourage the development, adoption, and
implementation of biological criteria, sediment criteria, and wildlife criteria for all of New Mexico's waters.
Without these alternative criteria, there is an increased likelihood that destructive physical activities,
biological invasions, and food chain contamination will continue to occur simply because they do violate water
column criteria. Healthy aquatic resources are essential to the economic and ecological health of New Mexico.
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