City officials thinking green

City leaders in Clovis are seeing green these days when they look at water from the treatment plant.

Green like the color of money.

Members of the city’s water policy advisory committee decided Wednesday there is big money to be made by selling effluent — the non-drinkable water discharged after treatment at the city plant.

Committee Chairman and Mayor Pro Tem Randy Crowder said he wants to start a public education campaign about the effluent reuse pipeline project. He also suggested gathering letters of support for the project from the community to help obtain funds from state and federal legislators and other agencies.

“I want to focus all of our energies on the effluent reuse pipeline project for the next six months,” he said.

The $16 million project proposes to supply the city with non-potable water from the wastewater treatment plant.

“This is going to be the tool that gets us by until the Ute water project (is complete),” he said.

The Ute water project would pump water from the Ute Lake Reservoir to eight New Mexico entities, including Clovis.

City Manager Joe Thomas said the project could supply the city with 3 million gallons of water a day.

The water will be used to irrigate city properties and for dust control. Crowder said the city will also sell the water.

“The sale of water is what will make it successful,” he said.

Crowder said a revised engineering study of the project will be finished next month.