a small-town water company that suffered a “complete” water outage

New Mexico utility officials say they’re closer to a solution for a troubled small-town water provider.

In 2025, residents of a small community outside of Edgewood known as Melody Ranch reported problems with their water. A July filing with the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission says residents were “experiencing a water system breakdown and complete disruption of water service.” The culprit, PRC filings say, was an old cliche: The well ran dry.

“The cause for the complete disruption of water service is that the well Melody Ranch uses to provide water to the community is not producing enough water to meet demand,” officials wrote in the July document.

In the months since, PRC officials opened an investigation into Melody Ranch Water Co. and have held monthly public briefings on the matter. Company officials initially hit speed bumps in trying to restore service to the Torrance County community. In one email to the PRC, the company wrote that the City of Albuquerque sent a tanker truck out to the community to supply water. But half of it, they wrote, was lost.

“To support basic needs, the City of Albuquerque deployed a 6,000-gallon water tanker to the community. Due to confusion about fill levels, approximately 3,000 gallons of usable water were lost before a replacement tanker was secured,” officials wrote in the July email, adding that they had depleted their financial reserves in addressing this outage and wanted emergency support.

At a Thursday meeting on the third floor of the Roundhouse, though, officials sounded hopeful that a fix was near. The situation was still “emergent,” they said, but moving in the right direction. While hearings on concrete steps have yet to be scheduled, staffers said connecting the small community to the town of Moriarity’s water system seems to be the most likely permanent fix.

Commissioners said they’re optimistic about measures passed in the recent legislative session, including the capital outlay projects, which could send as much as $4 million to water infrastructure improvements in the area, and the state budget, which calls for statewide aquifer mapping.

In the meantime, the state is paying to haul water to the community, according to a recent PRC update, and the Estancia, Moriarty, Willard, and Torrance Water Association is working with the New Mexico Environment Department to explore more long-term solutions.

Melody Ranch is not the only small-town utility to face such problems. The PRC in recent months has floated the idea of a receivership for the Timberon Water and Sanitation District, which loses as much as 85% of its water to leaky pipes.

To PRC Chair Gabriel Aguilera, the Legislature’s efforts were clear signs that the state needs to be prepared for situations like those in Melody Ranch and Timberon. 

“We certainly need to do more,” Aguilera told Source NM. “We should probably be prepared…given the water issues that are facing the Southwest.”