Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
In the first meeting of the new fiscal year, the Eastern New Mexico Water Utility Authority updated Ute Reservoir tank levels, outlined its 2025 budget, and detailed an upcoming trip to Washington D.C.
Over a month, from June into July, the Ute Reservoir showed a loss of about 1.32 inches. According to Jacquelynn Bowens, support services officer, another loss in about 600-acre feet was recorded.
Though the levels dipped, Bowens said “this was significantly lower than the usual decrease rate for the time of year.”
Mike Morris, Clovis mayor, added that “the big rain that we hoped for hasn’t happened, but there’s been a few smaller rains that have hedged against the evaporation that we would be seeing this month.”
As for the 2025 budget, ENMWUA currently has a budget of around $294 million, according to administrator Orlando Ortega.
The money is derived from different grants and will go toward the construction and design of projects, Ortega said.
However, he said this “doesn’t include the finished water one and water three projects.” When those are included, the authority will come out with a total overall capital construction budget of nearly $346 million.
Clovis Mayor Mike Morris called it “outstanding.”
The budget was improved with a unanimous vote.
In other items of business:
Morris, Ortega, and board member’s Durward Dixon and Eldon Merrick will head to Washington D.C. next week to secure more money at the federal level.
This money would be added to the aforementioned budget but bolster it for the next couple of years.
The money would come from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law which, according to a White House press lease, “represents the largest investment in water infrastructure in American History.” The bill was passed by the Biden Administration in March with “$57 million” allocated “to lead pipe and service line replacement.”
Ortega said he was confident they would receive the money because the bill was passed with the intention of helping citizens of New Mexico. The bill provides $5.2 billion for aspects like water as well as transportation and internet.
