Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities

Biden to sign infrastructure measure

Bill would complete federal funding for water project

The federal infrastructure bill that received Congressional approval on Nov. 5 includes funding to complete the federal share of the cost of the Eastern New Mexico Rural Water Project, according to a news release from U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich, D-NM.

President Joe Biden plans to sign the infrastructure package Monday.

The water project includes construction pipelines and facilities to bring water to Curry and Roosevelt counties from Ute Reservoir in Quay County.

The water project was estimated in 2009 to cost $500 million, and the remaining federal share, minus federal contributions already made, would be about $355 million, according to Mike Morris, chair of the Eastern New Mexico Water Utility Authority (ENMWUA).

The project is being funded 75% from federal sources, 15% from the state, and 10% from the local communities that are members of the ENMWUA, including Clovis, Portales, Melrose, Portales, Texico and Cannon Air Force Base.

Morris said on Friday he is thrilled with the announcement of funding for the water project’s federal share.

“This is the single most important piece of infrastructure we have going,” he said. With the federal share locked in, the pace of development and construction on the project should accelerate, he said.

In the news release, Heinrich stated, “I have worked for more than a decade to increase federal funding for the Ute Pipeline Project to provide cities in eastern New Mexico and Cannon Air Force Base with a sustainable, long-term source of clean water.

“This is especially critical since these communities have long relied on the rapidly declining Ogallala Aquifer,” he added.

Morris said locking in the entire federal share of the funding might spur the state to stay current with payment of its share of the cost.

“Up until recently, the state was ahead” on its contributions, Morris said, but he said the state has come up short lately.

Morris said even with the substantial influx of federal money, the project could still be slowed by supply chain issues related to the COVID-19 pandemic, and by rapid increases in material costs.

The cost of pipelines “has gone way up in the past year and a half,” he said.

When complete, the project will be able to deliver up to 28 million gallons a day to communities in Curry and Roosevelt counties from an intake structure on the Ute Reservoir’s south shore to a water treatment facility on top of the Caprock in Quay County, and then to the ENMWUA’s member communities. The project is expected to include 150 miles of pipelines.

At present, the project has constructed the intake structure at Ute Reservoir and is working on lateral pipelines between member communities. Construction is under way on a pipeline that will take water from Cannon AFB to Portales, and the authority is planning for a line between Clovis and Texico.

The eastern New Mexico project is one of five rural water projects in the West that are set to receive a total of about $5 billion in assistance through the end of the 2026 fiscal year through the infrastructure act.

Other projects on that list include projects in North Dakota, Montana, South Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa that include construction of pipelines, wells pump stations, treatment plants and storage facilities.

 
 
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