Clovis holds informational pipeline meeting

The city of Clovis held a public meeting Wednesday to update residents on the status of the Ute Pipeline Project.

Clovis Mayor Mike Morris made the presentation at the meeting. Prominent in the discussion, which included questions from the public, was detailed information on the water levels in the Ogallala Aquifer and the Ute Reservoir. These are the two sources that will provide water sustainability to the city of Clovis and other nearby communities in the future.

The city is proposing increasing its mill levy by one to pay a share of the cost of constructing the Ute Pipeline, because the Ogallala Aquifer is running out of water. The levy will raise $15 million to repay a loan for that amount.

The purpose of the pipeline is to carry water from the reservoir to Clovis and other communities.

City commissioners are set to vote on the mill levy at the July 21 commission meeting. Details on the mill levy proposal were discussed at Wednesday’s meeting.

The mayor said the Ogallala Aquifer, the sole source of drinking water for the city of Clovis, is in decline because it is being mined at an unsustainable rate.

“It is important we execute this plan” to bring surface water from the Ute Reservoir to Clovis and nearby communities, he said. The Ute Pipeline Project is being funded by federal, state and local money and “it is time for Clovis to inject” a $15 million payment toward the cost of constructing the pipeline.

“It is estimated that the aquifer only has seven to 10 years of freshwater production left,” Mayor Morris said. “These communities continually drill wells and place pumps further down to follow the decline and utilize deeper supplies, if they exist.”

The water level of the Ute Reservoir on July 6, 2022 compared to 10 years ago is “almost exactly the same level as it is today,” the mayor said. “The Ute reservoir is actually in very good shape.”

Someone from the public asked if the pipeline took some of the reservoir’s water, what would that do to the level of water?

The mayor said Clovis only has the right to take about 12,000-acre feet of water a year. At this point, Epcor has said Clovis only uses about 8,000-acre feet of water a year.

“We want to be good stewards of Ute Reservoir,” he said. The state would manage the water levels in the reservoir.

“We are not going to drain the reservoir,” he said. “But, that reservoir was built for the purpose of providing drinking water to Eastern New Mexico. We will be good stewards of the reservoir. It’s too important not to be.”

Another person from the audience asked how much energy it will take to pump the water through the pipeline.

Eastern New Mexico Water Utility Authority (ENMWUA) Administrator Orlando Ortega said at the meeting that “a lot of it is gravity fall. We are looking at generating electricity from this.”

“The Ute Pipeline will give us water sustainability – something so vital…and some communities around us won’t have this,” the mayor said.

The ENMWUA was created to fund the Ute Pipeline Project, according to the website. The members that will benefit from the piped water are the city of Clovis, Texico, Elida, Portales and Cannon Air Force Base, as well as some unincorporated areas of the counties.

The pipeline will be funded 75 percent by the federal government, 15 percent by the state and 10 percent local government, the mayor said. It is expected that if the federal funding continues as expected, the pipeline could be constructed by 2029.

“People are going to move here because we have water sustainability,” the mayor said. “We have been hindered because of that water issue.”

Big employers considering locating in the Clovis area want to know if it has water sustainability. “It’s a big part of the (economic development) conversation.”

The pipeline will provide Clovis with the “opportunity to grow,” the mayor said. “We have the solution; we just have got to seize the opportunity.”