Officials to break ground on NM water project

Nearly half a century after the idea was conceived, eastern New Mexico entities have planned a Thursday groundbreaking on the Eastern New Mexico Rural Water System — also known as the Ute Water Project. An 11:30 a.m. groundbreaking is set for Ute Reservoir, on N.M. 522 about two-and-a-half miles west of Tucumcari. Many city, state and federal officials will be on hand, including Sen. Jeff Bingmana, D-N.M., who authored the 2009 omnibus bill that contained federal authorization for the pipeline project. Construction will follow at a later date for an $11.5 million intake structure, or pumping station. It is the first phase of the $432 million Ute Water Project, which would pump water from the Ute Reservoir to members of the Eastern New Mexico Water Utility Authority. Those members are Clovis, Portales, Melrose, Grady, Texico, Elida and Curry and Roosevelt counties. Authority officials hope to start water delivery in 2019. Projected water delivery is 16,450 acre feet, approximately 5.36 billion gallons, of water annually. A 1994 study by the Interstate Stream Commission estimated the reservoir’s annual yield to be 24,000 acre-feet per year in all but extreme drought years...more