By Mary Alice Murphy

The Grant County Water Commission met to hear a presentation, but when members gave their reports, the news and discussion replaced the presentation.

Alex Brown, Silver City manager, serves as chairman of the commission. A bare quorum was at the meeting, with Hurley Mayor Ed Stevens and Santa Clara Mayor Richard Bauch making up the second and third members of the quorum. The commission usually has a representative from the county, but Commission Chairman Chris Ponce had an emergency and Bayard Mayor Chon Fierro was not present.

As the group had not met officially this year, they approved the Open Meetings Act resolution for 2019, with nothing changed but the date.

Priscilla Lucero, Southwest New Mexico Council of Governments executive director gave an overview of the regional water project, which was the main topic of the day:

In December, our last meeting, we had begun discussions on Phase 2 and Phase 3. What we needed to do before we moved this further was to get the Fort Bayard project completed first. Santa Clara has a signed lease waiting for state approval.

We have to determine what contaminants we may need to deal with at Fort Bayard. Since then, we have had a water emergency in Hanover for five days with no water before we were notified. That was alarming to me. What happened was both wells went down. They went to the emergency water source, but one of booster pumps wasn't working, so a certain percentage were getting only a trickle. We declared an emergency and got $42,000 in emergency funding. The next thing was tasked to me by the governor, and I think this project was what helped get us the emergency funding. I articulated that the collaboration of this regional water project was one of the mechanisms that will help prevent this sort of emergency from happening. And secondly, I've been working with New Mexico Tech on monitoring the wells on whether we are seeing decline in the depth of water in addition to mechanical problems.

We are striving for economic development dollars to make sure we have the primary source of water and a secondary for Hurley. We have an opportunity to tap into grant dollars, but we need to start now on the process. I'm guessing we must be about 90 percent to 95 percent complete with the Hurley project.

Stevens:
Well, it's actually about 65 percent complete. We've had some issues.

Lucero:
We need about $19 million to complete the project. It will benefit local governments, water associations, and in addition to Hurley, it will benefit Bayard, Santa Clara, Hanover and Arenas Valley. The total investments in the Hurley so far are about $9 million, primarily grant dollars.

Stevens:
It's about 65 percent complete. We need to finish. The 600-gallon-a minute wells turned into 80-85 gallons a minute when we tapped into them. The depth of the one well is about 1,200 feet, but the pumps were at 1,000 feet. They were pulled out. We went back into the well and put in an additive to loosen up the water. We spent $35,700 to increase the output. We have spent about $7.6 million and Hurley is on the hook for about $3 million. The town uses about 500 gallons a month. Our original plan was to pump at night. We had hoped to build a storage surplus, but this output means projections will allow only a 2 million-gallon surplus. If we run the pumps 24 hours, they will wear out quickly. We have a loan to pay back. Whether the town wants to cut back the amount of water we used to provide, we have to decide. If we run the well 24/7/30, the costs will go up, but it will be needed for the rest of the area. Because of the acre-feet of water rights we have from Silver City, there is a possibility to put in another well and hope for a better rate. This was the major location in order to easily move water to Bayard and Santa Clara. There are two six-inch wells close to the 12-inch well. We are looking at putting in a pump to use the smaller wells as a secondary. Those two wells will need pumps and lines. From a regional standpoint there are issues we need to look at. This has been a financial struggle for Hurley. From the water standpoint, it may improve once usage begins. Freeport has strong wells maybe four or five miles away. Maybe we didn't hit the right spot.

Lucero:
How long have you had this information?

Stevens:
Maybe about four weeks. Maybe more. When we put in the trial pump, we were getting 163 gallons a minute out of the two wells. For another well, it would cost $600,000 to $700,000. If we find water, then we can move toward dealing with pumps and lines.

Lucero:
Which reminds me. The local governments have to update their water plans.

Stevens:
We put in the two test wells and took the information they gave us. We're within about 70 percent of running them now. When we get the pumps in, we can give you the exact amount, but it would have to go from 80 to 250 gallons a minute to be good. The town council in spending money on the additive, lost 17 gallons a minute. We have the tanks. Freeport has an agreement with us to provide water in an emergency.

Lucero was visibly taken aback at this information:
Why has this commission…Why were we not aware of this? We will have to regroup and make sure we have water available. Freeport is not intended to be in the water utility business. Is there enough water for you, for Hurley? We have to ensure Hurley has enough water.

Stevens:
It might come to the point to not allow anyone else to connect. We are in the position to protect what we have.

Lucero:
Yes, Hurley was the priority. You need a primary source of water. For the others the need is secondary.

Stevens:
Freeport is on a large aquifer. Maybe we're on the edge.

Lucero:
The Colonias grant intents to apply deadline is due Dec. 1.

Stevens:
Maybe we can go for more wells.

Lucero:
This is a reset, but Bayard and Santa Clara need to update their water plans.

Stevens:
We have lines partway there. I don't know what the next step is.

Bauch:
The line between Bayard and Santa Clara will be secondary. We have water now but may have a demand problem in the future. If we want to continue this project, we have to find more water. We don't have much demand right now. We are stable for water supply, and Bayard is stable.

In the future, the effluent from the wastewater treatment plant is about 400-500 gallons a day. It goes back into the aquifer. At Fort Bayard the spring boxes are not performing as well as they were.

There are two projects – one to tie into Hurley and the second to have the effluent go back into the aquifer.

I think we should go ahead tying Hurley together with Bayard and Santa Clara.

The engineering is 30 percent designed for the effluent project. We can use the effluent in Santa Clara for irrigation and put some into the ground to build the aquifer.

The forest is willing to build a habitat area when the effluent goes into the grounds. It would offset future demands.

If we continue the project, we will have it in case of emergency. Our project to use the treated effluent would cost $3 million. We realize the treatment plant has to come up to speed. I think Bayard is in favor of continuing. We were working together on getting water. We have to stay attached to the mine if there is an emergency to get rid of the effluent.

Lucero:
When will be engineering by at 100 percent?

Bauch:
Maybe six months.

Stevens:
We will require agreements with Hurley, Bayard and Santa Clara. We want to water the ballfields and cemetery, but we have to agree. If Hurley gets any effluent, we will need a T in the project.

Bauch:
Right now it goes into Bayard toward the ballfields.

Stevens:
What percentage is Bayard's?

Bauch:
I think it's 40 percent to Bayard and 30 percent each to Hurley and Santa Clara. Not only would it recharge the aquifer, but it would lessen the need.

Community Rural Assistance Association Director Olga Morales:
Has there been an engineering study?

Stevens:
No, the effluent is 99 percent pure.

Lucero:
You still need an engineering study. You need to put in a letter of intent for a Colonias grant.

Brown:
We do benefit by removing the demand to Arenas Valley.

Lucero:
We need the opportunity to seek funding while there's money. We need the Mining District to work together on this.

Bauch:
The Department of Health likes the treated effluent going to Fort Bayard to recharge the aquifer, so it will assure water to the DOH Fort Bayard Medical Center.

Lucero:
Fort Bayard Medical Center needs a secondary water source.

Brown:
You three towns need to move forward with the effluent project.

Lucero:
The letters of intent are due December 1.

Morales:
You can't ask for connections if the water is not there.

Stevens:
Will the state allow another well? Two wells are not going to provide enough water for the regional water project. We will have to get another well. We have asked the engineer to go to Deming to see if we can pump out of the test wells.

Ty Bays, representing Freeport-McMoRan:
I don't see any problem with the Office of the State Engineer allowing more wells or to pump out of the test wells. But, if you're going to the same depth, then you'll have three straws into the same pool.

Tom Shelley from Freeport-McMoRan:
I think our well might be 18,000 feet deep, so deeper than yours.

Bays:
There's not a lot of water where yours is drilled. I think you need some expertise beyond what you have now. We've also drilled dry wells. But if you drilled the test and got higher flows, it doesn’t add up.

Stevens:
We accepted the information from the engineer.

Lucero:
The intent should be to focus to give a primary water source to Hurley.

Stevens:
Right now, we have enough supply for us, but no surplus for Bayard and Santa Clara.

Morales:
What if one well went down?

Stevens:
We could do it if we can use the test wells, but it is worrisome for us.

Lucero:
You in the Mining district need to work together to assess the issues. I think the Colonias Fund has more dollars in it than ever. Now is the time to ask.

Bays:
The Mimbres aquifer varies. For instance, Rosedale Road and Arenas Valley don't have water. It varies.

Morales:
Your ask has to have a master preliminary engineering report district wide and comprehensive. It would be large in coverage and scope.

Lucero:
I repeat, the letters of intent have to be in by Dec. 1, and the applications are due in February.

Brown:
I suggest you three meet before our November meeting on the effluents project.

Stevens:
We're already on the hook for a 10 percent match on the loan.

Lucero:
You have to get the letter of intent in to get into the system by Dec. 1.

The next meeting will take place in the middle of November.

The meeting adjourned.