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Hearing On Dairy Pollution Set For March

A plan to clean up contaminated groundwater resulting from dairy operations in southern New Mexico will be considered at a public hearing next month.

Officials with the state Environment Department say the hearing will be in the community of Anthony on March 25. It's expected to continue the following day.

The department says shallow groundwater beneath and beyond the boundaries of dairies along the Interstate 10 corridor between Anthony and Mesquite is contaminated with nitrate-nitrogen, chloride and dissolved solids.

Officials say the contamination is primarily the result of past dairy wastewater discharges to lagoons and crops.

The cleanup plan proposed by a consortium of 11 dairies calls for putting in liners, among other things.

The hearing will cover sampling at monitoring wells and the effects on domestic wells.

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