Water Authority Announces Groundbreaking Ceremony for Portales Pipeline Construction Project
PORTALES, NM—The Eastern New Mexico Water Utility Authority (ENMWUA) will be holding a ground-breaking ceremony for the Finished Water Three (FW3) construction project on Thursday August 12, 2021.
The event begins at 12:00 noon at the City of Portales Memorial Building Auditorium at 200 East 7th Street in Portales. ENMWUA Chairman Michael A. Morris and Vice-Chairman Ron Jackson will provide comments. Congressional, Federal, and State officials will be on hand to join in the celebration. At 1:15 pm, plans are to travel to the construction site for the official turning of the dirt ground-breaking.
FW3 is a 16.7-mile portion of the Eastern New Mexico Rural Water System (ENMRWS) pipeline that will consist of a 20-inch transmission pipeline connecting from ENMRWS’s Main Junction Vault northwest of Cannon Air Force Base and travel south along State Highway 467 to the connection point at the Portales Lime Street Storage Facility within the city of Portales.
The FW3 pipeline will be constructed in two phases, FW3A and FW3B. FW3A construction is currently underway. The cost of construction and engineering services during construction for FW3A will be approximately $19,284,013.03. The contractor has 360 calendar days from Notice to Proceed (NTP) to complete the project. Official NTP was given on July 6, 2021 by the ENMWUA to the contractor, Smithco Construction, Inc. FW3B phase construction will follow once design and easement acquisition is complete. Both phases are funded.
The Eastern New Mexico Rural Water System is a regional rural water supply project in east-central New Mexico. 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 July1, 2010. The member communities are Clovis, (includes Cannon Air Force Base and portions of Curry County), Elida, Portales (includes portions of Roosevelt County), and Texico.
