Lagoon systems: wastewater treatment plants in New Mexico
12 plants · 41% of the state · 1 MGD reported by 4 plants
Klarifi identifies 12 publicly owned wastewater treatment plants with lagoon systems in New Mexico, 41% of the 29 plants in the state (1 MGD reported by 4 plants). The largest is Town Of Red River in Taos at 0.5 MGD.
Lagoon systems treat wastewater in large earthen ponds over weeks of retention time, with or without mechanical aeration. They serve thousands of small towns because they are cheap to run, but they struggle with ammonia and nutrient limits, fill with sludge over decades and are the plants most often converted or upgraded when a permit is renewed.
The largest lagoons in New Mexico
| # | Facility | City | Avg flow (MGD) | NPDES permit | Expires | Violations (3y) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Town Of Red River | Taos | 0.5 | NM0024899 | Jun 2027 | 23 |
| 2 | City Of Santa Rosa Wastewater | Santa Rosa | 0.29 | NM0024988 | Apr 2027 | 411 |
| 3 | Shiprock WWTF | Shiprock | 0.29 | NN0020621 | Aug 2028 | 8 |
| 4 | Village Of Chama | Chama | 0.08 | NM0027731 | Feb 2028 | 171 |
| 5 | Albuquerque City Of Southside Water Reclamation Plant | Albuquerque | — | NML022250 | Dec 2030 | 8 |
| 6 | City Of Artesia | Artesia | — | NM0022268 | Aug 2030 | 0 |
| 7 | City Of Belen WWTP | Belen | — | NM0020150 | Nov 2030 | 58 |
| 8 | Cuba, Village Of | Cuba | — | NM0024848 | Jul 2026 | 332 |
| 9 | Dulce Wastewater Treat.Plt. | Dulce | — | NM0030520 | Sep 2029 | 42 |
| 10 | Mora Mutual Water & Sewer Works Association | Mora | — | NM0024996 | Mar 2028 | 382 |
| 11 | The Village Of Angelfire, WWTP | Angel Fire | — | NM0030503 | Jun 2028 | 0 |
| 12 | Village Of Maxwell | Maxwell | — | NM0029149 | Jul 2031 | 0 |
Contacts and project signals for every plant on this list
Klarifi adds verified decision-maker contacts, permit limits, discharge monitoring data and the capital projects planned in each city, filterable by technology, size and compliance record.
Other technologies in New Mexico
Lagoon systems in other states
Lagoon systems in New Mexico: questions
Sources and methodology
Flow, permit and violation figures come from the EPA's ICIS-NPDES discharge monitoring records. Population served comes from the Clean Watersheds Needs Survey 2022. Treatment structures are identified by Klarifi's review of aerial imagery, and capital improvement projects are extracted from published municipal budget documents. Violations are counted over the last three years of monitoring reports.
Data refreshed September 11, 2026.