Water authority selects pipeline alignment

The Eastern New Mexico Water Utility Authority Board selected an alignment for the pipeline that will take the water from the Ute Reservoir and pipeline project to the community of Elida.

Jim Honea, project manager for Jacobs Engineering made the presentation. He said the committee compared the cost and non-cost components of the lateral as it is called or pipe alignment.

The committee concluded and the board approved the alignment north of Portales along Roosevelt Road #3 going west and south on Roosevelt Road U, ENMWUA administrator Orlando Ortega said.

The committee’s criteria for the selection, which did not approve a route through the city of Portales, were: community impact to businesses, for example; environment and permitting; constructability, safety and security; and operations and maintenance.

In other business, the board voted to approve a grant agreement between the ENMWUA and the State of New Mexico Environment Department Capital Appropriation Project for the Eastern New Mexico Rural Water System in the Amount of Ten Million Dollars.

Ortega said this grant money is part of a $30 million 2022 legislative appropriation for rural water systems.

In other business, the board adopted its Fiscal Year 2023 final budget, which consists of a total of just over $32.5 million in projected revenues.