N.M. Stat. § 3-29-3 (2026)

The purpose of the Sanitary Projects Act is to improve the public health of rural
communities in New Mexico by providing for the establishment and maintenance of a
political subdivision of the state that is empowered by the state to receive public funds
for acquisition, construction and improvement of water supply, reuse, storm drainage
and wastewater facilities in communities, and to operate and maintain such facilities for
the public good.

History: 1953 Comp., § 14-28-3, enacted by Laws 1965, ch. 300; 2004, ch. 121, § 1;
2006, ch. 60, § 2.

                                    ANNOTATIONS

The 2006 amendment, effective March 6, 2006, rewrote the former section to delete
the former declaration of policy that the legislature will assist in providing sanitary
facilities and added that the purpose of the act is to improve public health of rural
communities by providing a political subdivision that is empowered to receive public
funds for sanitary projects.

The 2004 amendment, effective May 19, 2004, amended the last sentence to delete
"domestic" preceding "water supplies".

Mutual domestic water consumers associations are municipal corporations and
are therefore exempt from property taxes. — Article VIII, § 3 of the New Mexico
Constitution exempts from property taxes the property of municipal corporations, and
under current law mutual domestic water consumers associations (MDWCA), organized
pursuant to the Sanitary Projects Act, NMSA 1978, §§ 3-29-1 to 3-29-21, are municipal
corporations, as they are local political entities created pursuant to statute and
authorized to manage community water systems, and therefore the property of
MDWCAs is constitutionally exempt from property taxation. 2024 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 24-
06.