Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities

Portales in line for stimulus funds

Clovis and Portales are getting in line for their share of almost $40 million in stimulus money about to be distributed in New Mexico.

New Mexico is set to receive the federal stimulus money to improve water quality, drinking water infrastructure and sewage treatment systems.

Municipalities have until Monday to submit applications, according to Karen Gallegos, the state environmental department’s director for water and wastewater infrastructure development division.

However she said Clovis is in the pipeline to receive the stimulus money through a previous uniform funding application, which could also qualify the city for money from other sources.

The city is requesting stimulus funds to upgrade its 20-year-old wastewater treatment plant. The state is still trying to decide how to divide the new federal cash.

Clovis Public Works Director Clint Bunch said the city needs to upgrade its electrical system and its aerating system, which treats wastewater.

“It’s outlived its life expectancy. It’s pretty far gone,” Bunch said.

He said cost estimates for the upgrade amount to $8.5 million.

Portales is also seeking stimulus funds for a new wastewater treatment plant. Portales Public Works Director Tom Howell said the project will cost about $22 million and the city has already received $7 million in federal funds.

“We’ve raised our rates but we don’t really have a lot set aside,” he said.

Gallegos said the department expects the stimulus money between two to three months and once it is awarded, municipalities have a five-year period to spend it, she said.

She said qualified projects must be able to start within a year.

The money will be available through the clean water and drinking water state revolving funds.

The New Mexico Environment Department is reviewing applications for the funds and will prepare a list of shovel-ready projects for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

“There are a lot of needs across the state. We just want to make sure those needs are met and the most urgent needs met first,” said Marissa Stone, a spokeswoman for the Environment Department.

But officials from around the state agree the additional money will barely put a dent in what New Mexico communities need as they work to modernize their water systems to keep up with booming populations and meet more demanding federal requirements.

In one of the state’s fastest growing cities, workers on Wednesday filled the last of three large filtration tanks with gravel at Rio Rancho’s new arsenic removal plant. It is set to go into operation next month, and the city has plans for more arsenic removal systems at other wells.

Rio Rancho and other municipalities have been busy making lists of water infrastructure priorities with hopes some of the stimulus money will filter down to them.

The department also wants to make sure the funding is evenly distributed across the state to large and small water systems, she said.

The state estimates there are around $100 million worth of water and wastewater projects that are ready to go.

While the stimulus money will meet only a fraction of the state’s need, Deputy Environment Secretary Jon Goldstein said officials are looking at piecing together funding from other sources “so we can get more bang for our buck.”

Rio Rancho’s top drinking water priority is a $4.5 million project to remove naturally occurring arsenic at two of the city’s wells. City spokesman Peter Wells said the design is complete and the city is ready to start the project.

“We’ve got a number of projects that we’ve assessed. They’ve been designed. They’re ready to go and in some cases we just need some remaining funding and in other cases full funding,” Wells said.

In southern New Mexico, Ruidoso Mayor Ray Nunley said his community is hoping for some of the stimulus money to complete work on a wastewater treatment plant. Nunley said the project is being funded through a combination of state and federal funding, bonds and loans. The stimulus money would mean the village wouldn’t have to borrow as much.

Nunley is cautious since New Mexico is slated to get only $19.4 million in clean water funds and another $19.5 million in drinking water funds.

“Everybody seems to be a little bit excited about what the possibilities are and I think we’re all thinking a little bit too high,” he said. “I’m not sure we’re going to get as much as we want but everybody is in the same boat — in Ruidoso, Alamogordo, Cloudcroft, and Albuquerque’s no different. We’ve got water pipes that are 75 years old. We’ve got a lot of infrastructure that needs some work.”

In Mesquite, just north of the international border, many of the water lines are old and too small to meet flow requirements for fire hydrants, said Martin Lopez of the Mesquite Mutual Water Association. His community has requested $6 million in stimulus money for drinking water and wastewater projects.

Cindy Huntsman, former president of the New Mexico Water and Wastewater Association, said many water associations in the state are one- and two-man operations that don’t have pocketbooks large enough to repair or replace their systems.

Huntsman and Lopez said with such a need, word has spread fast about the possibility of getting a piece of the stimulus money.

“The word is out there. It’s just trying to get on the list and get up there high enough where you can be heard,” Huntsman said.

The Associated Press Contributed to this story.