Senate committee approves $1 million in water funds

The Senate Appropriations Committee approved $1 million in water funding for eastern New Mexico on Thursday, according to the staff of U.S. Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M.

Two separate allocations of $500,000 will be used for water supply planning and in local water recycling studies, a news release from Domenici’s office said.

Clovis officials are studying ways to utilize wastewater from the wastewater treatment plant.

According to Clovis Mayor David Lansford, the goal is to use the treated water for watering local parks and other public and municipal properties.

The project is in the engineering phase.

The other $500,000 allocation will be used to help advance the Ute Water project, Lansford said. The project, which will eventually cost about $400 million, is in the early design phase, he said.

The proposed project would pipe water from Ute Lake to residences in Quay, Curry and Roosevelt counties.

“We certainly appreciate (the funding),” Lansford said. “We’re talking about a project that’s virtually unaffordable if we don’t get help.”

Lansford said the hope is to ultimately achieve 75 percent federal funding for the project.