Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
CLOVIS — The Eastern New Mexico Rural Water System, long known as the Ute Water Project, will receive its biggest federal award in the program’s decades-long history.
The $15 million award from the Bureau of Reclamation for the 2020 fiscal year is more than triple last year’s $4.3 million BoR award and puts the authority closer to its “40/30/20” plan to cover an interim groundwater system.
“We are very thankful for the allocation of $15 million from the BoR for the Finished Water 3 phase of the Interim Groundwater Project,” said Clovis Mayor and Authority Chair David Lansford. “These dollars will be put to beneficial use immediately. We are also very grateful to the many individuals who have recognized the need and advocated for the accelerated completion of the IGWP.”
The ENMRWS is a regional water supply project long discussed, but not federally authorized until 2009, to construct a pipeline system from the Ute Reservoir in Quay County to member communities.
Active members in the authority include Clovis, Portales, Texico and Elida. Curry County, Melrose and Grady announced their intent to exit the authority last year, and legislation is working its way through Santa Fe to amend the authority’s makeup.
The authority, beginning late last year, began working toward securing $90 million to complete an interim groundwater system connecting authority members. This would allow the authority to purchase water from local landowners and become a functional utility while the eventual connection to the reservoir is planned and constructed.
The “40/30/20” refers to the federal, state and authority portions of that $90 million. The city of Clovis passed a conditional property tax to fund $15 million of the authority’s $20 million share, as it represents 75% of the authority.
The tax increase — $51.80 annually per $100,000 in commercial or residential property — will not go into effect until and unless the federal government provides $40 million and the state $30 million before March 31, 2022.
The $15 million award is a big step toward the $40 million federal portion happening.
“Tripling the federal investment in the Eastern New Mexico Rural Water System is a major victory,” U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., said in a release. “We have known for a long time that pumping unlimited groundwater from the Ogallala Aquifer is unsustainable. That’s why we must ensure that critical investments in this project remain funded so that eastern New Mexico can depend on a reliable water supply for generations to come.”
As part of that interim project, Finished Water 3 will take the pipeline from Cannon Air Force Base to Portales.
“This water infrastructure project represents a shared vision that the Eastern New Mexico Water Utility Authority has had for years to deliver affordable, clean water to our communities,” Portales Mayor and Authority Vice Chair Ron Jackson said. “I am incredibly excited to see this monumental increase in funding that will truly move this project forward. I thank Senator Heinrich and the entire New Mexico delegation for their efforts to help make this happen. This has truly been a team effort and I look forward to continue working together to have this project reach fruition.”
The project is one of five rural water projects that split $117.4 million in Bureau of Reclamation dollars. The ENMRWS is the youngest of the five, and received the lowest of the awards. The other four each received between $17.9 million (Lewis and Clark project) and $33 million (Pick-Sloan Missouri Basin Program).
