Clovis approves spending on water contamination

CLOVIS — Citing a need to be proactive about recent news of water contamination near Cannon Air Force Base, the Clovis city commission approved spending up to $15,000 with a firm affiliated with former State Engineer Tom Blaine for a cleanup plan.

By an 8-0 vote, the commission hired King Industries to help develop conceptual plans relating to PFAS/PFOA contamination adjacent to Cannon Air Force Base.

A report from Mark Huerta of EPCOR water showed that six city wells around the contamination plume all showed up as non-detect for the chemicals, and that the privately-owned provider of municipal water for the city does monthly compliance and quarterly samples to make sure the water remains fine.

That report is a relief, Mayor David Lansford said, but area entities still need to work together and eliminate the pollution with conservation in mind.

The money will come from environmental gross receipts taxes the city receives from Curry County in its shared service agreeements. Lansford, also part of the Eastern New Mexico Water Utility Authority, said the authority wants to work on the remediation but didn’t think it would be fair to ask member communities like Elida and Portales to share the costs.

“The authority’s not planning to get into the remediation business,” Lansford said. “My goal is to initiate some proactivity. The lower the aquifer gets, the more contaminated the water becomes.”

Commissioners and Blaine both shared the goal of getting every entity affected in on a committee to look at the plume and figure out remediation.

“The dairy guys would have a seat at the table along with the agriculture guys, the ranchers, etc.,” District 4 Commissioner Rube Render said.

The group agreed it was the obligation of the Air Force to clean the plume, as it was created due to firefighting chemicals used by the base. But Blaine felt it was important that everybody affected have a seat at the table.

“We have all of the right elements. We need to bring them together ... to make sure the Air Force gets this PFAS/PFOA plume cleared up,” said Blaine, who is King Industries’ vice president of engineering. “The base is an important part of this community. They need to be considered as a partner in this cleanup, along with stakeholders.”

District 3 Commissioner Fidel Madrid said he didn’t have an issue spending the $15,000, but felt the Air Force hadn’t been proactive enough in its cleanup efforts.

“They can’t wait for us to lead the way,” Madrid said. “They need to step up to the plate.”

The Air Force has previously said it has done what it can to mitigate the impacts on human consumption, but that is lacks the authority to take any action on behalf of livestock or agriculture.

Orlando Ortega, executive director of the water authority, said the authority was glad to be part of the process, and glad to be working with King. The authority had approved the scope of work with King during its meeting early Thursday, contingent on approval from the city — which acts as the authority’s fiscal agent and controlled the $15,000 sought by the authority.

Blaine noted that nearly all of the world’s water — 97 percent — is not available for human consumption, either because it’s in a body of salt water, frozen in ice caps or comes from a source that eliminates potability.

“There is only 3 percent avail^able to us,” Blaine said. “We can’t afford to contaminate any of it.”