Water authority to consider easement agreement

CLOVIS — An easement agreement comes Thursday before the Eastern New Mexico Water Utility Authority, one of several still outstanding as progress advances toward the Finished Water 3 component of the interim groundwater project.

ENMWUA Administrator Orlando Ortega said the offer and easement agreement with Carl D. Moore was “one of a handful that are on our list.”

Ortega told The News on Tuesday that he didn’t have the specifics of that agreement immediately available, but noted “we’ve acquired half of the easements” needed in total of the 16 miles of pipeline needed between Cannon Air Force Base and Portales water tanks.

FWIII has an estimated construction cost of $24 million.

The board will also hear on Thursday a recommendation for an amendment to the 2010 contract with Jacobs Engineering, with Ortega noting a section of the FWIII pipeline is being redesigned near Portales at the Lime Street storage facility. Construction on FWIII has not broken ground, but work continues on FWII between Clovis and Cannon AFB.

Also at Thursday’s meeting, scheduled for 3 p.m. at the Sitterly Professional Center, 801 Pile St.:

• Recommendation for an ENMWUA vehicle use policy.

• Discussion/recommendation in forming an ENMWUA development and policy committee. Ortega said the committee is intended to assist in the “investigation and development of a finance plan for the interim groundwater pipeline and all of the costs associated.” Membership will be determined “by the discretion of the board” but likely limited to a few individuals and drawn partly from the ENMWUA board itself.