QUAY COUNTY, VILLAGE OF LOGAN REQUESTS U.S. ATTORNEY, NM ATTORNEY GENERAL INVESTIGATE FRAUD BY EASTERN NEW MEXICO WATER UTILITY AUTHORITY
ENMWUA fraudulently acquired state and federal grants and loans
LOGAN, N.M. (March 19, 2026) – Fraud has been committed by Eastern New Mexico Water Utility Authority in order to obtain funds from the federal and state governments, according to information sent by Quay County and Village of Logan to the U.S. Attorney, Inspector General for the U.S. Department of the Interior, New Mexico State Auditor and New Mexico Attorney General.
ENMWUA is a governmental entity created by the New Mexico legislature for the purpose of building a water pipeline from Ute Lake in Quay County south 120 miles to the Clovis area. Although the project was originally budgeted at $500 million, recent estimates place the real cost at $1.4 billion. Congress has allocated money under the Infrastructure Act, but the majority of the total cost has not yet been obtained.
ENMWUA consists of four entities, Clovis population 38,319, Portales population 12,280, Texico population 1,065 and Elida population 152. Of the total population of 51,816 making up ENMWUA, 73% comes from Clovis. Clovis has entered into a franchise agreement with EPCOR Water, a Canadian corporation to supply water to the entire Clovis population through 2046. Yet ENMWUA does not have any type of agreement with EPCOR that would require it to purchase or accept water from Ute Lake.
The documentation provided to state and federal authorities demonstrates that ENMWUA obtained over $400 million dollars in state and federal grants and loans based upon representation that water would be sold to and used by the City of Clovis, despite the fact that EPCOR has the right to supply that water through 2046.
In one instance, ENMWUA obtained a loan from the New Mexico Finance Authority for $32.3 million and secured that debt with proceed of water sales to Clovis beginning in 2031. All income from water sales in Clovis belong to EPCOR until 2046.
"This is a straightforward case of bank fraud. ENMWUA obtained a loan secured by collateral it does not have," said Warren Frost, attorney for Quay County and the Village of Logan.
In addition, state and federal authorities have been provided documentation that shows that ENMWUA falsified its annual budget to make it appear that there was so much work being completed on the pipeline that ENMWUA expected its expenditures to be in the hundreds of millions of dollars each year and as a result the state and federal governments needed to give it even more grant money.
For example, in 2023 ENMWUA budgeted expenditures in the amount of $254.3 million, but its actual expenditures for that year were $19.3 million. In 2024, it budgeted $345.6 million but spent $60.2 million.
"These false budget figures allowed ENMWUA to acquire millions of dollars in annual grants from the New Mexico Water Trust Board," said Frost.
The information demonstrating the fraud was uncovered as part of a lawsuit filed by Quay County and Village of Logan. During the discovery process, it became clear that ENMWUA is committing fraud.
