Navajo-Gallup Water Supply Project completion deadline extended to 2029

FARMINGTON, N.M. ─ The completion deadline for the Navajo-Gallup Water Supply Project was extended to December 31, 2029, through an agreement between the U.S. Department of the Interior, Navajo Nation, and State of New Mexico Interstate Stream Commission, collectively referred to as the settlement parties to the Navajo Nation's Water Right Settlement on the San Juan River Basin in New Mexico.

The deadline extension for completing the project is necessary due to delays caused by acquisition of the San Juan Generating Station and its incorporation into the Navajo-Gallup Water Supply Project. The Navajo Nation and the New Mexico Interstate Stream Commission concurred with Reclamation's decision to pause design and construction activities on affected features of the project's San Juan Lateral in the fall of 2019 to investigate the feasibility of incorporating the generating station's water conveyance and storage facilities into the Navajo-Gallup Water Supply Project and agreed that an extension of the completion deadline would be required when that determination was made.

"The impact of the delays to the project as a result of the investigation process, acquisition, and incorporation of the San Juan Generating Station Reservoir and Water Conveyance System are substantially offset by the significant short-term and long-term cost savings to the project, as well as the increased operational flexibility and reduction in operational risk these facilities will provide," said Reclamation's Four Corners Construction Office Construction Engineer/ Manager Bart Deming. "We appreciate the collaboration of the settlement parties, as well as the city of Gallup and the Jicarilla Apache Nation, to extend the completion deadlines of these three vital projects so we can ensure safe, reliable, and affordable drinking water for the future of this project and Navajo and Gallup communities."

There is precedent for extending the deadlines in the Settlement Act. In 2019, the completion deadlines for the Fruitland-Cambridge and Hogback-Cudei Irrigation Projects were extended to December 31, 2024, by the signatory parties in 2019 through a similar letter agreement.

Reclamation completed acquisition of the San Juan Generating Station facilities in May 2023 with all project participants' concurrence. Reclamation is now in the process of incorporating the generating station into the design of the Navajo-Gallup Water Supply Project.

The proposed Navajo-Gallup Water Supply Project Amendments Act of 2023 (S. 1898 and H.R. 3977) would also extend the project's completion deadline to December 31, 2029, if enacted by Congress. However, since this process may not be enacted in time to allow for continued settlement implementation necessary beyond 2024, as is necessary for the United States to fulfill its obligations, the letter agreement between the settlement parties was needed. This letter agreement was also necessary to extend the deadlines of the Fruitland-Cambridge and Hogback-Cudei Irrigation Projects, as language was not included in the proposed legislation to extend these projects.

In 2009, the Northwestern New Mexico Rural Water Projects Act 1367 (title X, subtitle B, of the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009) authorized the three primary components of the Navajo San Juan Settlement projects-the Navajo-Gallup Water Supply Project, the Fruitland-Cambridge Irrigation Project, and the Hogback-Cudei Irrigation Project. The Navajo-Gallup Water Supply Project completion date was authorized December 31, 2024, and through this Act, the settlement parties had previously extended the completion dates for the two irrigation projects in 2019 to the end of 2024.

The Navajo-Gallup Water Supply Project has been in construction for over a decade to provide a long-term sustainable water supply to Navajo communities and the city of Gallup. This vital project will divert water from the San Juan River Basin, to be treated through water treatment plants on both the San Juan Lateral and Cutter Lateral and delivered through approximately 300 miles of pipeline, 19 pumping plants, and several storage tanks.

The Cutter Lateral was completed in 2021 and has been delivering clean and reliable drinking water to over 6,200 people in the eight Navajo chapters on the eastern side of the Navajo reservation and to the southwestern portion of the Jicarilla Apache Nation. The San Juan Lateral is now 70% complete with initial water deliveries beginning in late-2028 to Navajo communities in western New Mexico, the Window Rock area in Arizona, and to the City of Gallup.

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