With infrastructure bill signed, authority eyes next steps

TEXICO — An infrastructure bill that should cover the full federal share of the Eastern New Mexico Rural Water System over the next five years was signed into law Monday by President Joe Biden.

That’s the good news for the Eastern New Mexico Water Utility Authority, which is working on building the system to supply groundwater from the Ute Reservoir in Quay County to member communities in Curry and Roosevelt counties. The not-so-bad news the authority discussed at its Thursday meeting in Texico is how it needs to stand out from a field of five rural water projects that are receiving the federal assistance.

John Ryan, who handles federal matters for the authority, said conversations with various entities have led him to the conclusion that the speed at which the authority receives its 75% federal allotment depends on how quickly it can put up its 25% — 15% from the state and 10% from authority members.

“At some point,” Ryan said, “they will say, ‘How much can you construct in a fiscal year?’ But we haven’t heard that yet.”

Ryan said it wasn’t clear if the $5 billion in the infrastructure bill will cover all of the funding for the five projects; “hopefully it gets close.”

Joe Thompson, who handles state matters for the project, said there’s some optimism about getting larger awards from the Water Trust Board and other state sources.

“There’s a significant opportunity for us to make the case we should get more money for the project (next year),” Thompson said. “This is a transformational opportunity for the project.”

Diane Ventura, a representative of Sen. Martin Heinrich’s office, said the Bureau of Reclamation is working on a spending plan for the upcoming fiscal year and the authority should expect to see that plan in the next 60 days.

Chairman Mike Morris said the authority certainly had challenges, but they were exciting challenges and he felt the right team was in place to take them on.

The authority is currently working on building the pipeline infrastructure to connect the member entities — Clovis, Portales, Cannon Air Force Base, Elida and Texico. Once that is complete, the authority will try to acquire local water rights to deliver groundwater to membership until it can connect the project to the reservoir.

In other business at the meeting:

• Wendy Christofferson of Jacobs Engineering reported on construction work. Regarding Finished Water 3A, the pipeline between Portales and Cannon Air Force Base has about 3.5 miles of its 16.5 mile trek complete and about 600 feet a day is being added. Substantial completion is expected in July.

• A report on water levels at the Ute Reservoir was largely the same as a year prior, with the elevation at 3,778.8 feet on Oct. 18, 2020 and 3,778.35 feet Oct. 18, 2021.

• The authority approved one-year agreements with Ryan for federal services, Thompson for state services and Harmon Morris Barnett for legal services. All three agreements are for less than $60,000 each.

• The next meeting is scheduled for 3 p.m. Dec. 16 at the authority offices in Clovis.