BERNALILLO COUNTY, N.M. (KRQE) – Bernalillo County hopes to protect people from flooded waterways with the help of a new amendment. County commissioners recently approved edits to an ordinance to keep unhoused individuals from hanging out in waterways.
“The weather, it is what it is here in New Mexico. It could turn on a dime,” stated Antonio Jaramillo, Director of Operations and Maintenance for Bernalillo County.
When heavy rain hits the area, acequias, arroyos, and other waterways can quickly fill up. It ends up trapping anyone inside, especially unhoused individuals.
“Whenever any individual that’s in a waterway, an acequia or anything like that, if they get swept away, chances are, they are not going to come back alive,” stated Jaramillo.
After an amendment was passed Tuesday, Bernalillo County hopes these kinds of incidents will be prevented. The amendment allows officers to issue warnings to unauthorized loiters or campers before an arrest.
“This is not to arrest them. This is more just to educate them and ask them to move along.”