Water Authority Receives Notice of Award from New Mexico Water Trust Board for Pipeline Construction
CLOVIS, NM—The Eastern New Mexico Water Utility Authority (ENMWUA) has received Notice of Award from the New Mexico Water Trust Board (WTB) in the amount of $5,792,829.00 for use in the next phase of pipeline construction. The phase of pipeline construction called Finished Water Three (FW3) will go toward constructing the water pipeline to Portales. This funding comes in the form of a 90% grant in the amount of $5,213,546.00 and a 10% loan in the amount of $579,283.00. The funding award is contingent on the ENMWUA completing the “Readiness to Proceed” items for construction.
Additional funding earmarked to go toward FW3 includes $14,750,000.00 million from the United States Bureau of Reclamation (USBR), 2019 WTB funding award in the amount of $2,868,106.00, $1,000,000.00 in 2020 Capital Outlay Governor award, and ENMWUA funds in the amount of $1,131,894.00 bringing the total to $25,542,829.00. Plans are to go out to bid for construction in late summer or early fall of 2020.
Currently under construction, the Finished Water Two (FW2) pipeline that begins northwest of Cannon Air Force Base (CAFB) and connects to CAFB and to the Clovis water system is 99% complete. Construction on FW2 began a little over a year ago. Both segments are part of the Interim Ground Water Pipeline Project (IGWP) involving transmission pipeline that will connect approximately 97% of the Authority’s population. Those segments include Finished Water Three (FW3) from northwest of Cannon Air Force Base (CAFB) to Portales, Finished Water One (FW1) from northwest of CAFB to the future water treatment plant near Grady, NM, and FW2.
Eastern New Mexico Water Utility Authority Members City of Clovis • City of Portales • City of Texico• Town of Elida
ENMWUA Vice-Chair Ron Jackson expressed his appreciation of the WTB funding, “This important funding will contribute to our efforts in constructing FW3, the pipeline to Portales that will eventually provide a renewable water source to our community. We thank our stakeholders for their support of the Eastern New Mexico Rural Water System.”
The IGWP is important as it allows the ENMWUA to utilize the pipeline in the interim with ground water sources while continuing to build toward Ute reservoir, which will eventually provide the four-member communities and CAFB with up to 16,450-acre feet annual supply of renewable surface water. Ground water sources near the area of the FW1 and FW2 pipeline have potential of providing a supplemental supply to Clovis, Cannon Air Force Base, Portales, Texico, and Elida.
The Eastern New Mexico Rural Water System is a regional rural water supply project in eastcentral New Mexico federally authorized in 2009. The purpose of the project is to provide potable water to four city member agencies and Cannon Air Force Base for municipal, commercial, and industrial use from a renewable surface water supply at Ute reservoir. The ENMWUA was enacted by the New Mexico State Legislature effective July 1, 2010. The member communities are Clovis (includes Cannon Air Force Base), Portales (includes Roosevelt County), Texico, and Elida.
