Clovis officials hear grant program presentations

CLOVIS — The Clovis city commission listened to presentations Tuesday related to a grant program that would help pay for the creation of easements that would encumber the bulk of local farmers’ water rights with the ultimate goal of conserving water.

By entering into conservation easements with local farmers, who would otherwise use the water to irrigate crops, the city would hope to conserve drinking water for future generations, the presenters discussed.

Former Clovis Mayor David Lansford said he has been working on this issue for many years as a public official.

“It’s been a trail of tears because nobody wants to tell the public we really do have a serious water supply issue because it will damage economic development opportunity,” Lansford told the commission at the meeting. “We’re okay but we need to act. The time to act was really a few years ago. Fortunately Readiness Environmental Protection Integration program (REPI) came along.”

One of the presenters at the meeting, Jeff Davis of the real property accountability office for Cannon Air Force Base, told The News in a later interview that the city of Clovis and Curry County approached him about the REPI grant program money.

Various federal government agencies have about $8.279 million for the purpose of funding easements, Davis said. The easements would convert lands from agricultural water rights to the less taxing municipal water rights and cut usage by 80%. This would raise the level of water inside the paleochannel and extend water usage in the area from 10 to 40 years.

The interest of the Department of Defense in providing this grant money is to preserve a sustainable water source for Cannon Air Force Base and the residents of the city of Clovis and Curry County as well, he said.

He said the Department of Defense needs an “eligible entity” to act through. The Central Curry Soil and Water Conservation District stepped up fill this role.

However, the grant money requires someone such as the city and county to administer the spending of the money.

Davis said the city wanted this meeting to understand why they are being asked to contribute about $150,000 a year to the administering of the program.

“Administering the spending of the program is not part of what REPI does,” Davis said.

Commission members had questions about why they had to contribute money and why the Curry district and others are considering forming a local land trust to help with this process.

Presenter and attorney Peter Nichols said the cost would be the same whether they used an existing trust or formed a new local one.