Water authority accepts terms of $32.2 million loan

The Eastern New Mexico Water Utility Authority board on Thursday accepted the terms of a $32.3 million loan from the New Mexico Finance Authority’s Drinking Water Revolving Loan Fund that will finance about 40% of the $81 million local share of cost remaining for the Ute Lake Water Project

The loan is expected to be repaid in 33 years at a rate of 0.25% per year, according to the listing on the board’s agenda for Thursday’s regular meeting. The loan agreement also includes a 1% origination fee.

The board on Thursday also approved acceptance of $20 million grant from the New Mexico Environment Department, to help finance the Ute Lake project, which is part of an allocation approved by the New Mexico Legislature in its 2022 session, Orlando Ortega, the water utility board’s executive director told the board.

The project is expected to result in a system that will take water from Ute Lake near Logan, send it up the Caprock to a treatment plant, then distribute it to Curry and Roosevelt county communities, including Clovis, Portales, Texico, Elida and Cannon Air Force Base.

The board on Thursday also approved two measures that will allow use of ENMWUA pipelines in combination with EPCOR pipelines to deliver water to Texico to help the community deal with water shortages. EPCOR provides water to the city of Clovis.

The first measure was an agreement between Texico and the water utility authority and EPCOR to provide water on an “as available” basis to Texico, and the second was an agreement among the same parties for the use of pipelines to “wheel” the water from EPCOR and the wate utility to Texico at a roughly estimated cost of 82 cents per 1,000 gallons.

A third measure approved the system used to choose from options presented to deliver the water to Texico. The chosen option will use an EPCOR line currently under construction to provide water from Clovis to the Clovis Municipal Airport. Using that pipeline, when it is complete, will cut off several miles of new pipeline needed to deliver water to Texico.

In other action Thursday, the board:

• Authorized the ENMWUA administration and staff to apply for $13.9 million in funding through the New Mexico Water Trust Board to cover costs related to three pipelines that will carry untreated water to a treatment plant as part of the Ute Lake Water Project. Ortega said the amount sought is the maximum that can be applied for, which is 15% of the water trust board’s $93.3 million budget.

• Renewed a contract with I.T.S. Refrigeration and Heating of Clovis for operation and maintenance services of the Finished Water 2 pipeline that will run between Melrose and Cannon AFB, as well as for the intake structure at Ute Lake, which involves divers working under water. The contract renewal, for about $60,000, will cover the period from Sept. 1 to August 30, 2023

• Heard Jim Honea, project engineer for Jacobs Engineering, which is designing the Ute Lake Water Project for the ENMWUA, report that a finished-water pipeline from Cannon Air Force Base to Portales is nearly done, but there are “lots of small items” to be completed. Honea estimated the pipeline will be completed in about a month. Honea and Jacobs engineer Wendy Cristoffersonalso reported they are close to choosing a location for the pump station that will bring water up the Caprock from Ute Lake

• Heard a report from ENMWUA’s Washington representative John Ryan, who said that while the ENMWUA has received $160 million from the federal infrastructure act, $236 million has not yet been allocated. He also reported that Congressional contacts on water issues are paying more attention to drought-related Colorado River issues than others in recent weeks.

• Heard a report from Ortega in which he said the ENMWUA is exploring the use of solar and wind facilities to reduce the need for power from Farmers Electric Coop as they plan the Ute Lake Water Project.