Electric Co-op Helping with Water
By Amber Knox
Roosevelt County Electric Cooperative Inc. is a private, not-for-profit company and the third-oldest electric cooperative in the state. At the April 1st Portales City Council meeting, Eric Segovia, the general manager and executive vice president, presented on the water project that RCEC is undertaking.
During his presentation, Segovia explained why RCEC has undertaken this project, its current phase, what it needs from the city, and why RCEC believes this will be a successful and cost-effective solution.
Segovia stated, “I think the intent of the electric co-op is to help the community, boost water supply, and help the water utilities to continue to do business by helping them get more product to be able to do what they do.”
According to Segovia, RCEC has been monitoring the water situation in Portales and Roosevelt County over the last couple of years from a distance. However, when restrictions were implemented, in an effort to help RCEC met with the water advisory committee, water department, and others.
Segovia said he doesn’t know if the water crisis can be solved but believes it can be managed through several projects, some of which are already underway, such as the Ute Pipeline.
The RCEC board approved the purchase of a well field southeast of Portales believing it is close enough to run pipes into Portales, thus helping boost the community’s water supply.
Segovia stated that RCEC has the personnel to “get things done.” Expressing their effectiveness at project management due to a great management team as well as, engineering, line, and accounting departments. He also expressed the benefits of being a privately owned company and their ability to accomplish this project within a timely manner and for less than previous quotes obtained.
RCEC has done preliminary testing, and Segovia said they think there is a good amount of water. They are now working with three engineering consultants “to continue to plan our water situation and what our operations may be.”
Concerning whom the water would be supplied to, Segovia said, “We have mutual membership with the water co-op, and then our first priority is to make sure that our members at the electric co-op have water. And so, we want to make sure that the water co-op has an opportunity to continue to do their business, as they receive their water supply from the city. But we do think we have a significant amount of water to where we could also supply the city and hopefully take advantage of some engineering efficiencies with the city system to help feed the city and the water co-op as one community. Still working on further details, but the short answer to that is both if we can.”
Addressing the question as to why an electric co-op is getting into the water business, Segovia said, “The reason that we’re wanting to work on it is we are local, we’re a co-op, we are a not-for-profit company and so we don’t need to make a huge profit on anything. The benefit to the electric co-op would be allowing us to continue to grow because we have water sustainability for our community. But I think we could provide a cost-effective option for the water and fill some gaps while the other projects are still underway, so keep that in mind. As far as moving forward, what I would ask the council tonight, is just, you know, open lines of communication; we’ll have to study a possible injection location, different PSI levels, and pipe sizes, and a lot of other things.”
Along with open lines of communication, RCEC is asking for a letter of support or a resolution saying that the city is aware of the proposed project. This would demonstrate to the engineering board and other regulatory authorities that the city knows and is aware of what RCEC is proposing and that there are lines of communication between the two entities, allowing for project coordination.
In closing, Segovia said, “It’s not one organization or another; it’s going to take all of us coming together to find community solutions for all of us to continue to live here and prosper. Thank you.”
