Dr.

Clayton, how are you?

Good to see you.

You doing all right?

Yeah.

Hello, Constance.

How are you?

Good morning.

How are you?

Thanks.

How are you doing?

I'm doing good.

How are you?

Doing good.

Good to see you.

Morning.

Great how you do.

Hi Mark.

How are you doing?

I caught it just in time.

I hid my coffee cup and started to go like that, and I grabbed the catch.

Oh, I guess I better turn off my phone.

Oh, good idea.

I'll put it on side.

The ring.

I haven't seen Vince to mine in a while.

I haven't seen him in a while.

No, it's been a while since he's I haven't seen him.

I haven't seen him around at all.

Okay, we'll go ahead and call our meeting to order of the uh water policy advisory committee.

And can we have a roll call, please?

Mayor Pro Tem Bryant.

Here.

Commissioner Tarsen.

Commissioner Jones.

Here.

Commissioner Zamora.

Here.

Raymond Mondragon.

Present.

Vince DeMaio.

Seth Martin.

Richard Bradfute.

Allahandra Espinoza.

Leo Lovett.

Here.

Okay, we do have a quorum, just barely.

And uh welcome our newest member of with Leo Lovitt.

Thank you.

Thank you for your interest in this committee, Leo.

Appreciate it.

We down to the approval of the minutes.

For April the 14th of 2025.

Are there any corrections?

If not, I need a motion.

So I'll I'll second, but I was the question I was going to ask it says approval of minutes January thirteenth, twenty twenty-five.

It should be twenty twenty-six.

No, but it is it's right here.

That one would have been twenty twenty-five.

Okay, so the last time was the April 14th.

That's been a while, hadn't it?

It has been a while.

Okay, we do have a motion and a second to approve the minutes.

All those in favor signify aye.

Any opposed?

Okay, the minutes are approved.

And we'll move on to new business.

Our first the first one is a presentation of the Eastern New Mexico Water Utility Authority Rural Water System with Mark Howell and Jacqueline Bowens.

Mark is the executive director.

And Miss Bowens is the deputy director.

Welcome.

How's everybody this morning?

Doing well.

Uh yes, so first of all, thank you for the opportunity to come and share uh the progress that we've made on this very, very important uh project.

And so I'd like to just kind of get right to it.

So who's got the over?

All right.

Okay.

So uh first of all, when you take a look at this picture right here, please note that uh north is turned to the west, right?

Just for representation purposes, so that you can see from uh the Ute Reservoir all the way kind of throughout where all of that takes place.

And so this pro this project, you know, requires significant infrastructure.

Uh thank you to to really move the surface water from the Ute reservoir to our to our member communities.

So we'll we're going to take that to a water treatment plant and then bring potable water to those member communities.

Ongoing work includes right-of-way acquisition, pipeline construction, and the design of our water treatment plant.

Okay.

So I'd like to just kind of give you a little update as we go across the project, right?

You know, when you look at that pipeline all the way across, there's been a lot of work that's taken place all the way down to Portalis, you know, that infrastructure.

So we'll start with the first pipeline coming out of the intake structure, which we refer to as raw water 1A.

And so that's a 14 mile section, which that has gone out to bid right now, and we expect bids to get back in May next month to begin uh construction on that particular uh segment of the progress of the project.

The next component is what we call raw water 1B and and uh and two.

So that's broken up to that, and again, we call raw water what's the what's the uh uh uh surface water that's coming from the Ute reservoir.

So that's the portion that comes up and then guts over the cap rock, and uh you know then it'll come on down uh to our member communities.

So we believe we have a good trajectory and a line of sight with that funding and where we expect to have that in place by the end of the year, and we're optimistic that we might be able to get those uh bids sent out at the end of this year or at the latest early next year.

So then we get to raw water three, which is the last component before we get to the water treatment plant.

And currently this is full in construction right now, and so we're over 50% complete of that 22 mile segment of 42 inch pipe that's being installed and completed right now.

Which then brings us, you know, to this is almost done, right?

When we get from here kind of down, we've got a lot of good work that has been completed.

So what will be on the other side of the water treatment plant is what we refer to as finished water one.

That uh that 16 mile segment is almost done.

We're basically going, you know, through the pick list or the the punch list, I should say, at the end of that project, which we expect to get that completed here in the very very near term by May June is what I'm expecting that we'll actually be able to call that one 100% complete.

Now we get to talk about all the stuff that is actually all the way complete, right?

So we see you saw as we worked where our way down south on that pipeline, right?

So the first thing that we did was uh construct and build that intake structure, which is a massive uh you know undertaking a 51 by 93 foot shaft.

You know, it has an intake tunnel that's 54 inches in diameter and 250 foot long, you know, and that's been done for some time.

So very proud of that.

That was the very beginning.

But then when you look at, you know, that yellow line right there coming south, that was finished water one.

When you look at the white, that's what we refer to as finished water two.

That is complete.

Then there's a connection to Canon right there, which we call the Canon Lateral.

That one's complete.

And then finished water three is broken into two components, that orange and then that little blue right there.

That comes, you know, from the right there where we have a junction that finished water one connects to finish water two, and it goes down to finish water three that comes all the way down to Portalis.

So all of that work is actually complete.

So we're very proud of the progress that we've made.

So remaining pipelines is Texacolateral, and so we kicked that project off earlier this year, and so that construction may be a little bit more than 17% complete, but we expect that infrastructure to be complete by the end of the year, early next year.

And this is something we're very excited about, right?

Because this part of the infrastructure, you know, we're working with Epcor as well.

We're connecting, you know, to the to the system at the at the Clovis Airport, and so we'll actually be able to be conveying water through our infrastructure, you know, by the end of this year or early next year.

So it's not the surface water just yet, but it'll be in action and and live, and so that's something we're very excited about.

Then lastly, you know, the Elida lateral, which, you know, all of this, you know, it comes up the cap rock and then it goes all the way downhill, all the way down the Bertalis, right?

So we have all the way the hydraulics of gravity works in our favor to come down there.

Bertalis is in a valley, so that'll have to go back up.

So we'll have a couple pump stations that we'll have to do, you know, at that point, and that's kind of the last component that will be in parallel most likely with the water treatment plan as we're doing that is as we're putting in that pipeline.

So that's a four-inch diameter pipeline, you know, to come to the end.

But so when you take a look at the overall project, I mean, go ahead next next page, you know.

So 90 miles of that is either completed, out to bed, you know, or or in construction right now as we s as we speak, right?

So uh uh all of that really provides the ability to convey service water from the reservoir to what will be our member communities.

Now then, this is kind of a pivot point for us on this project, right?

Because a big part of that is is is implementing and developing constructing uh the pipeline piece of that, as you can see, those pieces are are in place now.

So now we're moving to the pump station, so that's the pumps that haven't been installed yet at the intake station, and then at the Caprock, right, because we have to lift that water up over the cap rock to get up there, and then there's tanks associated with that.

And so as we're working through our funding, you know, kind of directives over this time, that's really where we're driving the next set of that because those pump stations and stork tank tank installations, it's kind of exciting because we have this pipeline, and now those are the things that are going to provide the engine, you know, for the pipeline infrastructure in total.

And so that's really where we are, which leaves us with kind of once we get those things going, which we're a long way in design, probably 90 percent in design of the water treatment plan.

In fact, we have a water treatment pilot taking place at the intake right now to better understand all those variables so we can provide the most efficient, effective setup of that water treatment plant, you know, as it goes into construction.

But that will be, you know, from this pump station storage tanks, then the focus will really be on the water treatment plan, you know, and and how we build and and do that process.

That's really going to be the big uh projects that we'll be uh we'll be addressing, you know, over the next really several years till we get to the end of this project.

And so, in summary, right, you know, this is a very important project for our community.

I know everybody in this room certainly understands that.

This is a very exciting thing to do because it is a real solution to a real challenge, and that we are making, you know, solid progress in being able to deliver on that objective.

The water authority was charged with that responsibility to deliver that, to build that infrastructure and to convey that water, right?

And so, as I've shared with you, design construction installation has made significant progress in this massive project.

So there's going to be more work, obviously, with the water treatment plan as we continue to design and get everything that we can to the best that we possibly can for the efficiency and effectiveness of that water treatment plant.

And so with all of that being said, uh, five years we want to be able to have water coming to our member computing uh for our member communities.

Now then, you know, everybody also in this room understands, you know, the funding challenge that we have.

And so we've very optimistic about the trajectory that we're on and where we're going.

Uh but that will be kind of what really drives us to that 2031 finish line.

So very happy to report on the progress of this important project.

So I stand for any questions that you may have.

Do you have anything to add?

No.

Yeah.

Comments, questions?

Just a couple of things.

The yellow line, is that the uh wheatland area?

Is that the first pipeline what we refer to as water just on the other side of the water treatment plant?

Okay.

Purple is by the line.

Yeah, purple is, yes.

That's where that's what we refer to as raw water three, yes.

And then just uh just a question on this, because I have had two farmers pull me aside to have a discussion in regards to the discussion that took place in regards to the water well injection north of town.

Uh has that issue?

I know that there was a possible plan for another town hall meeting or a discussion with our farmers north of town.

Has that taken place?

Yeah, so we've done uh major education in terms of so what you're referring to is with the water treatment plant, there is you know a concentrate, you know, uh that has to be that has to be uh taken care of, right?

And so through very, very significant study and stuff, we've gone through several different alternatives.

And right now, what appears to be the most effective, safest and most efficient possible way to take care of that is through what we call a deep well injection.

Now then this part of the process where we're at right now is so we believe that there's a lot of science that's done that.

We've had some meetings, you know, in the community in our board meetings, you know, and actually with some of the uh some of our stakeholders as well uh to kind of share and educate, you know, on why we've come up with this particular solution.

But as these processes go, it is a process, right?

And so we believe that's that and all the geology and everything that we believe that's right.

We have to verify that.

So the part in the process where you are right now is simply we've applied for a permit, you know, to allow that to happen, right?

And so the New Mexico ED will be uh uh providing, you know, or or developing and creating that permit, and then it will go through a public process as well, you know, at that juncture.

But uh we feel very comfortable with that being the right solution, you know, for that.

And so we have lots of facts, you know, that I would I would uh ask you to go to our website and you can see some great question and answers specific to some of the questions that you know I understand that people have concerns about, but I think it really provides a really good solution for for for those uh for those questions.

But that's kind of where we are in the project, and so we'll continue to to do that.

So that I mean, you know, even let's just say everything went through.

I mean, we're still five plus years before something like that would we get to that, we get to that point.

I appreciate that because it is my understanding, even by reading on it according to the engineers that you guys have hired and had uh asked uh their professional opinion in their studies is that is common practice and it is deemed safe, is my understanding.

It is not only deemed safe, it's probably one of the best technologies that exist in terms of that.

So these Class I wells, I mean they literally have almost well, it's not almost.

There's the they they they don't have an incident to report over 60 years in creating, you know, uh some type of issue because of all of the redundant systems in terms of safety systems and the over-engineering of those systems, because it is very serious business in what it was.

I mean, and I'll just take a moment if you'll allow me that uh uh when we talked about one of the we talked about this in our some of our our engineer and some of the guys that do well specifically, he shared a story that about 10 years ago, the EPA got really down on deep well injections.

So they basically challenged all of their analysts to go out and study and show me how Class I wells are not good and they're bad.

That directive turned out to be working the complete opposite direction.

Those folks, after multiple study and understanding and looking at what all the statistics were and how that impacted the environment, that was a unanimous decision to say that is the very best way to dispose of this type of concentrate or waste from these systems, by far the safest that they've ever found.

And the statistics would would suggest that.

And I think this brings up a great point, right?

And I think that it's important that we're we're part of this community.

We understand, you know, what the importance of the project, what we're gonna have to do, but we are 100 percent want to be the best stewards of the resources that we possibly can.

So we want to make sure we have the very best solution.

Now right now, that is it, and there's a lot, a lot of scientific evidence that would support that.

But we're in a, you know, we're in the permit process, and but we believe that's all true, but we're gonna verify it before we move forward.

So I'm excited about the way in which we are conducting that business, and that I want everyone to feel very good that we want to provide the very, very best for our communities in the safest possible way.

Thank you for that.

Any other questions, comments?

You know, I'll just mention that our uh our board meetings are open to the public as far as with the Eastern Mexico Water Utility Authority.

Our office is north of town, and uh we meet monthly.

And so any of you are welcome to attend those meetings and learn more about the project and hear more about the deep wall injection.

We uh pretty well talk about that just about at every meeting.

So I mean we have some great stuff, thank you, on the uh uh on the website now that's some good questions and answers and stuff that really addresses that.

Yeah.

And Mr.

Allen, Ms.

Bowland, we appreciate uh how transparency is so important to have this project to the public little know exactly what's going on and what we're doing and and how we're getting it all done.

So I appreciate y'all going out.

You go to a lot of communities, you give a lot of presentations, and I think that's really important to let the public understand uh exactly what we're doing and why we're why we're doing it the way we're doing it.

So thank you.

Thank you very much.

And uh I'd like to leave you with something here.

So kind of a picture of this map right here.

It's on here.

I'm gonna leave you like with a one-pager.

And we kind of went through all of those different phases and stuff, and so this small print, I know that.

So uh but uh but I wanted to have something where everybody has a resource where you could have, you know, we can go look and see what all of this is.

Thank you.

Thank you for appreciating you.

I got a few.

Thank you again.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Okay, move down to our next presentation, which is on uh we're talking about water conservation, month of April is water conservation in the data clovis, and uh we have Alina Vulcan with Playa and Water Conservation Outreach Specialist.

Thank you so much for having me.

Welcome to the tell us a little bit what you do, and uh we're excited about hearing your presentation.

Yeah, of course.

Thank you so much for uh inviting me today.

Thank you to Ms.

uh Claire Burroughs as well for helping set this up.

Um I press Oh, okay, okay.

Sorry, go ahead.

So my name is Alina Vulcan.

I am with Playa Lakes Joint Venture.

Um I am their Playa on Water Conservation Outreach Specialist.

I work on a new program that we've started called Tomorrow's Water.

Um so today I will be talking to y'all about playas, tomorrow's water, the program that we're start that we were doing, and um asking you folks a few questions about your master water assurance plan.

Um I know you folks are probably no strangers to this.

Water planning is getting harder across the region.

The Ogalala Aquifer is declining, groundwater levels are also declining region wide.

Municipal wells are under increasing pressure, the cost of water infrastructure continues to rise, and ag driven economies like Clovis depend on water.

That's why you folks made that master water assurance plan back in 2017.

Um, we have Playa Lake Restoration.

So from my understanding, uh Playa Lakes Joint Venture worked with you folks to help set up this plan and include that clause and all of the good stuff underneath it.

So today I just wanted to sort of review what playas are because I know it can be a little confusing.

I was a little confused when I first came on to the position about playas.

And then I'll be talking about our program, which was directly inspired by Clovis and some other work PLJV did with can in Kansas.

And then we'll circle back to the master water assurance plan to see if uh we'll circle back to it.

Um playas are small temporary wetlands found mostly on private land.

They are a primary source of recharge for the Ogallala aquifer.

The regional average is about three inches of recharge per year across the region when there is rain.

Um that is a big caveat, but there has been some great rain just recently this past weekend.

That was wonderful.

Um if you conserve a playa, that water is yours, and there's slow lateral movement across the aquifer.

I have a diagram farther on in this presentation where I can talk about that a little more.

Put some more numbers to how much water is recharged through playas.

If we're looking at about a three inch per year average for four acre playa, and that is on the smaller side.

Here in New Mexico, we actually see an average of around 12 to 14 acres.

And that's enough to supply a family of four, two years of water.

So not small numbers.

Playas, the recharge through playas cannot make up for irrigation, irrigation, high rates, playas not so high recharge.

But it is enough to support rain fed systems, grazing operations, and municipalities.

So here we have that diagram of playas.

Right there in the middle left is the playa.

It's that sort of bright aqua color.

And then you can see the sort of like brown dirt.

So that's representing the clay basin of the playa, and that's what makes a playa special.

It's clay basin.

So when it rains, all that water floods in, trickles into the playa, goes through the clay basin, and then down into the aquifer.

So any of the water that goes down through the playa generally stays directly below, or in the general area of the playa because the aquifer doesn't allow a lot of lateral movement.

Um so anything you capture is yours, and it's not gonna travel away to Texas or anything.

Here we have a little more of an idealized version of a playa in the Southern High Plains.

Um I want to highlight two of the important features on this diagram.

It's that darker brown clay layer, and then the plants.

Um there's just one plant in this diagram, but in a real playa you'll see plants across the entire region, along the edge, everywhere.

Um the clay layer is very important to a playa's function.

It's what makes it unique, it's what makes it more than just like a mud hole.

The clay layer um when it goes through a wet dry cycle, when it dries, large cracks form in the clay layer.

And in that lower left hand corner, you can sort of see a crack with water running through, and that is from a playa.

Uh when these cracks form and the water comes in from the rain, it rushes through the through those cracks and into the aquifer, which allows that high rate of recharge.

Um, and then once the soil is saturated, the cracks seal up and you get this wetland.

Uh and then to move on to the plants, the plants also provide some recharge along the plant roots, and they also function as a filter for the water, so they catch a lot of contaminants, and usually the water that you see in a playa is of higher quality.

And the water that goes into the aquifer is of higher quality.

So playas contribute up to 95% of water flowing to the aquifer.

We're looking at recharge rates that are 10 to 1,000 times higher than under upland areas.

You may be wondering why is that such a large range?

Uh well, this is an average across our four regions, um, all the way up in Kansas down through Oklahoma, Colorado, Texas, so it is an average.

Um, and there are a few other factors that depend on that recharge depends on, and that's soil type.

So these areas all have different soil types, recharge works a little differently, the clay soils work just a little bit differently.

Rainfall, you need rain.

Soil saturation.

If the soil is super saturated, then the clay basin isn't allowed to form those cracks, and then the recharge rates slow down.

And then the wet dry cycle again goes back to the clay layer.

When the playa is allowed to dry, it forms those c clay cracks.

The water comes in, flows super fast down into the aquifer, seals up, forms a wetland.

And it's important that the playa goes through those cycles, so the clay cracks can form.

Uh recharge is a continuous process.

Um time to recharge is highly variable.

It depends on those previous factors I mentioned and the depth to aquifer.

So even if we get those playas immediately recharging, you probably won't see super fast results.

Um at the shallowest depths, it's months to years.

A hundred feet, years to decades, and then it just keeps going up.

Um I was watching a presentation from uh Kate Ziegler, I believe earlier last year, and she does a lot of well monitoring across the area, eastern New Mexico.

And she was monitoring a well by a playa, and this well has been abandoned for a few decades, I think at that point.

But there was a big playa next to it, and there was a lot of recharge and rainfall in that area, so we she saw a lot of um the water level rising significantly there.

Uh I'm mentioning that just to give y'all some perspective on that.

Um that you know it's not hopeless.

It'll work.

Uh playa functions also, playa also have a few other functions.

They serve again as aquifer recharge.

We got that water filtration I talked about earlier.

I know Clovis uses it as flood water storage.

Um, Miss Claire Burroughs mentioned that.

Um a lot of private owners can use it for livestock forage, and then we see a lot of birds and animals coming to playas because you know, source of water, nice grass, a lot of animals come in, and that makes for great recreation and education.

So more than 80% of playas have been modified.

Here we have some aerial image of playas, I believe, in Kansas.

Um a lot of playas are seeing are seen in agricultural fields, so people plant over them, disturb the clay layer.

You know, you gotta do your farming.

Um even if they're not being planted over, if they're near a crop field, um, a lot of that settlement can run off from the crop field into the playa and then bury that clay layer, which affects the recharge.

Um, a lot of play are right next to roads.

Um if you folks have been driving across a few roads, there might have been some flooding, and that's because there is a playa in the middle, or I guess the road is in the middle of the playa, technically, right?

So that affects how playas can be recharged.

Here's some brief restoration solutions just to give y'all some ideas about how that works.

You remove the accumulated sediment, you feel the drainage features.

Um, so a lot of times you can see these like deep channels that um travel into the playas, and that can mess up the flow.

You want to plant the native vegetation buffers, and that's for the water quality, water filtration purposes, and then you want to redirect water back into the playa, so that's where you would see culverts being put into roads uh and things like that.

So to go back to your master water assurance plan, inspired by your good work here, uh PLJV started the tomorrow's water program.

So the tomorrow's water approach, it's community-driven, partnership-based, voluntary, and tailored to local needs.

To get into more specifics, we are a multi-state multi-partner effort.

So we're working across Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas with all of these organizations that you see in those images.

Um have playa restoration benefit communities.

So we respond to each community's need.

We're looking to incorporate play into water conservation planning efforts while also reducing aquifer overuse, restoring and managing runoff.

Um, and we also want to connect producers with playa restoration assistance programs because again, 80% of playas are privately owned.

Um just a little more information.

I think I already went over this, so we'll just move past this.

Here we have a map of Clovis.

Um we've mapped out the uh the municipal wells and playas within two miles here in this area.

Um you folks are doing pretty good thanks to the to the plan y'all put together back in 2017.

We're seeing a lot of healthy playas in the area.

Um I'm just gonna move past this.

Oh, might have pressed it.

Okay, it's fine.

Uh so this is 10 miles out from Clovis.

Um we're seeing the blue dots are healthy, the sort of I think it kind of blends in, but the sort of yellowish dots are farmed, purple are pitted, and then red are pitted and farmed.

And then we have your municipal wells up again on there.

Um so I think out by the airport area, we see a little more pitted and farmed playas.

Um towards Texaco, we see a little more pitted and farmed playas.

And I'm I am working with Texaco and talking to their uh leadership about their playas and seeing what we can do there.

Um but just to give y'all a lay of the land, see what's going on.

And then we are working with Dr.

Ladonna Clayton with the Ogallala Land and Water Conservancy.

They have 34,000 acres, are looking to add an additional 20,000 acres to meet water supply demands.

PLGJV has identified 13 playas in the area with Ogallala land and water conservancy.

I believe three more playas are earmarked for investigation just to see what what they're like, see if they need restoration.

And then I believe three playas are currently actively being in the process of being restored with PLJV and New Mexico Game and Fish.

So that's exciting.

So this is where I wanted to get y'all's input.

I'm going to start at the last question, which is a little confusing, and then we'll go up.

But uh Ms.

Claire Burroughs mentioned that a lot of education and knowledge in the area about playas is very low.

Um I was wondering if y'all had any ideas about how we can increase education and knowledge in the area about playas, because that is one of my primary roles here in the area.

Um then to go up to my second question, is there any renewed interest in restoring playas from you folks in the water advisory board?

I know from talking to Claire, she gave me a nice aerial tour of uh Clovis and we looked at a lot of the city-owned playas, and it seems like y'all are pretty good there, not looking to change much.

Um don't let me put words in your mouth.

Let me know if I'm speaking out of turn.

I do.

Okay.

I do have uh Do you work a lot?

Our organization works a lot with the soil and water conservation districts.

Some of them are members of our uh office, uh, Eastern Plains Council of Governments.

Uh I attend some of their board meetings when I can.

Uh do you partner with them?

Because I know they do a lot.

For example, Roosevelt uh county uh soil water conservation district has been doing cloud seeding.

Do you work a lot with uh those organizations?

Yes.

Um I have been attending the Central Curry Soil and Water Conservation District meetings.

Um I'm working with them tomorrow at their meeting to identify some landowners in the Texaco area.

Um I recently attended the Roosevelt Soil and Water Conservation District and talked to them a little bit, learned about what they're doing.

Seems very exciting.

Um then I've also been talking with uh Southwest Quay Soil and Water Conservation District.

Yes, Linnae.

Yeah.

How about Franklin McCazlin at Quay County at the uh Reley Water Conservation District?

I do not I have not talked to him.

Okay.

They're pretty active.

Okay.

The ones that we're engaged with are pretty active.

Okay.

What was his name again?

Uh Franklin McCaslin.

Okay.

I can give you his contact information.

Uh they're they're pretty uh pretty active, even in the legislative end of it.

Okay.

Do you partner with the schools?

I know a long time ago kids probably I'm gonna say third grade used to take the kids to field trips to to the playas.

So do do you still connect with the schools and give them that opportunity for field trips?

Um an avenue that I'm exploring.

I'm working with Epcor for their water carnival day um in May, and that's where they're bringing all the fifth graders around Clovis in.

So I'll be there.

I'll be doing a little workshop or activity, a fun little activity for the kids to learn about playas.

Uh and I'm looking to get more involved in the schools as well.

So if you have any contacts there, that would be fantastic.

Okay, thank you.

And Mr.

Chairman, and leaning upon those same lines.

I mean, getting in the schools, uh as you're well aware, most of our players are out in the agricultural community, so maybe working with the FFA programs.

Uh that's obviously an area of interest for those those students, uh, and then obviously educating the students who are going to be adults, hopefully, in the future.

Uh and so um I I think that's a great avenue to lend itself to.

So I I don't have a contact directly on who the FAFA instructor is, but we can certainly find out and let you know.

Okay.

Thank you.

Yeah, I think it's great that we reach out to you while we can.

I think uh people need to understand, especially with conservation, how important players actually are and what you know and what they actually do.

Um, to really have a playa that works, you have to uh uh have to be maintained and taken care of, you know.

And uh so I think reaching out to uh the schools.

Maybe the college, you know, people like that and I was I was wanting to reach out to to the college, but I'm not I got confused.

I'm not sure who to contact about this.

We've got a board member right here so I'm on the College Board of Trustees uh close to me college.

So after the meeting, if you could see me, I'll give you a card and I'll give you the contact.

Perfect.

Thank you so much.

That would be fantastic.

Good presentation.

Anything else?

Yes.

Um how do you folks steward your playas so I can learn from your practices?

I'll turn that over to Mr.

Hobalt.

And so as you've mentioned, you know, the city owned playas themselves.

We we try to find the balance between management for stormwater purposes as well as uh trying to be good stewards of the playa system uh together.

And so um obviously when we're bringing like you mentioned water from a stormwater, either it's through a stormwater system or if we're going to open channel flows, we tried to implement best practices when it comes to how that water is going into to the system itself.

So being able to make sure that we've established those vegetative buffers, we as part of our mowing program and and managing that.

We don't mow the bottom of ply lakes, we mull around the boundaries of them uh in order to meet our own requirements as far as height of grass.

Um and so we do that.

Uh when we do have flows going directly into the and like I said, we try to do best management practices, we try to keep the vegetative buffers there.

We try to reduce the velocities of the waters coming into them.

Uh out at Goodwin Playa right now, that that's a playa that has um been pitted in the past.

We have not restored that pit, but we have just recently put in a lot of riprap in the channel that was going into that was creating erosion for us.

We've also created a uh sediment basin prior to it in one area, which allows the waters that are coming off the roadway, they go into that sediment uh basin, it slows the water itself, allows sediment to settle out, and then would overtop that basically act as a weir structure before it goes down into the ply itself.

And so there's definitely best management practices that are out there.

Uh when we look at uh if we do need to increase the volume of a ply lake, uh obviously the bottom clay layer is not the best material to pull out of them.

Um so we try to stay outside of that boundary, go outside that clay layer to increase those volumes, revegetate to that area uh to restore it.

So uh we we try to find that balance between stormwater management for the community as well as uh recognizing the value of the playas themselves.

Okay.

Thank you.

And then I might reach out to y'all again about playas.

Um thank you so much.

Any questions for me?

Questions, comments?

Thank you.

Good presentation.

Thank you so much.

Oh, sorry.

Uh here's my contact information as well.

Where should I drop this off?

Great.

Okay.

Yeah.

She's not on the agenda, but I wanted to reach out to uh Dr.

Clayton and see if she had any comments to make.

She was a big part of the uh uh water master water assurance plan that we uh that we did back in 2017 and and uh she helped put that together and and uh I didn't know if she had any comments to make this morning or not.

I want to give her the opportunity.

Thank you, Mr.

Chairman, and thank you to the whole board, the whole policy, water policy advisory board.

I just want to say how proud I am of our community for their ongoing efforts for water resilience.

And you see it at every level.

We do have a diversified water portfolio, and I believe that it all finds its roots in the master water assurance plan that the city took on and then passed in 2017.

And I just appreciate that that got implemented fully, and it's great to see what's coming out of every single one of those plans.

And I appreciate uh Mr.

Hobalt's leadership always in this regard as city manager as well as Mrs.

Burroughs.

But thank you for staying the course on making sure that it got implemented.

You know, we were probably the last implementation, the Ogilada land and water conservancy, but we are an outcome of that plan.

So I think we have great promise ahead, and it just shows uh foresight.

It shows great commitment to this community through this city commission and through certainly this board of of individuals who work side by side together to take on water security and water resilience.

And it is a statewide issue, so it's not just a Clovis issue, and certainly we saw Portalis itself face some really critical and still are facing critical with their stage uh two, they're still on stage two emergency restrictions.

So I believe that the work that that you all did and the work that you led and the work that's still happening today has placed Clovis in a much better place.

It's a lot of hands on deck making water security a reality.

So thank you.

Right.

Thank you, Dr.

Clayton.

Appreciate your comments.

Okay.

We'll go on and move down to the report.

And our first report is with our partner, IPCOR with Mark Werta.

Good morning.

Morning.

I'll start off with a little bit of uh talk about supply and demand.

So uh right now our total pumping capacity is at 10.5 million gallons a day.

So that's what we're with all wells running, able to produce.

Um for 2025, we saw an average day demand of 5.3 MgD, and this has been consistent with what we've seen over the last five years.

So uh even with the growth that we're seeing, we're not really seeing an increase in our average day demand.

Um our 2025 max day demand was 9.2 MGD, also consistent with the last five years.

So again, with the growth that we've been seeing, uh we haven't seen uh a real big change in uh either the average day demand or the max day demand.

So that's that's good news.

Um that that just tells you that conservation is working and the efforts that we're all doing is is kind of showing there.

So uh so far this year for Q1 of 2026, we've had a average day demand of 4.9, and uh so far max day demand is 7.1 MGD.

So talking a little bit about system delivery, so we track system delivery daily, so we keep an eye on what we're using on a daily basis, uh, and we do this so that we can coordinate with the city on you guys' uh like drought management plan.

And if there ever were any needs to implement any type of water restrictions, um to my knowledge, we've never had to do that.

Um, but we do monitor that closely, and if things were to change and if we got to above uh above a certain percentage of our uh pump capacity for so many consecutive days, we would obviously communicate that with the city and then uh start working with you guys to implement any kind of drought management that we needed to do.

Um a little bit on more in supply.

So we're nearing completion on three wells uh that will add a an additional 490 GPM.

So uh this will bring us to a total count of 78 active wells, and of those 63 are company owned, and 15 are leased wells.

So we implemented the lease well program by I think back in 2009, and I think we brought our first one on in 2012.

Numbers are right, but uh we uh we started out with what was well 200 and we're now at well 214.

So, like I said, we've got 15 of those online now, and this is where we're taking agricultural wells uh and moving them to municipal use.

So we go in and we improve the well itself to bring it up to municipal standards, uh which includes improvements to the the physical well and creating the the annular seal and everything that that uh creates this the sanitary seal uh to get it through our regulatory approvals with an MED uh also have to work closely with Mexico as uh New Mexico Office of State Engineer uh on water rights for those wells, but it's been really successful program for us.

Uh it allows us to kind of know going into it what we're gonna get, right?

So we'll know water quantity, we'll know water quality because we'll do water quality testing.

Uh both of those parameters have to be good in order for for us to want to proceed with the lease.

It has to be make sense for both the well owner and us.

Uh so it kind of mitigates the risk that you have with drilling a new well, because some of the those are some of the things you can't always tell, right?

Uh you can do all the geological studies and everything, and you still don't really know what you're going to get until you pop that hole.

So again, the the that program has been working really well for us.

We continue on with that program and searching out new leases uh in order to keep up with with demand decrease in in some of our older wells and really trying to create you know a percentage of surplus for the city of Clovis uh for growth.

Um so uh talk a little bit about maintenance activity.

So in 2025, uh we did replace four system valves.

We did uh replace 914 meters.

So we have a pretty aggressive meter exchange program to ensure that our meters are accurate, we're capturing all the water, keeping a good eye on our non-revenue water to ensure that we stay below a certain percentage uh and really just being good stewards of the water that's being pumped out of the ground, right?

We want to make sure that everything we pull out of the ground is going to our customers and not being lost to something else.

So uh so we uh uh been doing that.

Um we replace five fire hydrants.

Um we perform annual maintenance on 799 fire hydrants, so we uh perform PMs on all the hydrants uh within the city annually.

So we perform PMs on all the hydrants within the city annually.

So we'll go in and we'll check it for operation.

We'll make sure that it uh you know we'll turn on, turn off, make sure it's not leaking, uh check static pressure so we have a good idea of what system pressure is throughout the city.

And again we do that annually and then if we find any deficiencies that's where we'll either repair it or replace it.

So that's where a lot of our replacements come from as they're identified during those hydrant maintenance activities.

Same way with valves so we we did 576 valves last year.

We have a five year valve PM program so we have I think probably getting close to 4,000 system valves but we ensure that all of those valves get touched within a five year cycle to ensure that they're operating properly.

They'll open they'll close and this makes sure that we you know they're going to work when we need them right we have a main brake we're able to isolate that break quickly to reduce water loss and get get it fixed and get the water back on also helps to you know where we're not turning off large portions of the town right we try to have enough valves to where we can turn off smaller sections of town isolate the leak and fix repairs so it it limits outages which is very important for us right we don't like to disrupt customer service.

For 2025 we had new service requests so we had 94 uh which was a little bit down from the previous year.

Still a lot of that is through multifamily so duplexes and and um and uh multifamily development so this year we're already I I don't have the exact number but it's already looking like it's ticking a little bit up so we're we're keeping an eye on that so we're we've already had quite a few service new service requests.

I think right now we're sitting close to 17,000 service connections in total that would be both commercial and residential and then moving on to projects so I think and hope work is nearing completion on the 6084 East project.

So that project what that project did for us of course it was a big storm drain and and highway project for the city but we we took advantage of that and we had an engineer design water line improvements within that the limits of that project.

So what that allowed us to do was go in and replace a lot of small diameter or old and aged uh water mains with new uh eight inch minimum and then uh it's all new PVC also allowed us to replace some fire hydrants and things of that nature so it's always nice when you know when they're milling up the road and and and doing that type of work we can get in there and do ours and and it helps control our costs and and we did that through a cooperation agreement with the New Mexico DOT.

So again that project's nearing completion we also completed work on the MLK project which was a smaller storm drain project here in town but we did the same thing we we improved some water lines and we had to relocate some stuff that was in the way of the new storm drain and so we we took advantage of that and and uh completed that project our 14th and Norris pump station so that's sits on the corner of 14th and north there within Hillcrest Park area so we uh completely rehabbed that tank so that was drained cleaned uh any repairs that were needed recoding on the interior and exterior including new hatch doors and new ladder and then while that with that work taking place we also made improvements to the pump station building itself to make things a little bit safer and also to make it a little more aesthetically pleasing.

So it was it was in need of some repair but uh those upgrades included new metal uh sheeting on the exterior walls and new metal roof uh new doors and things of that nature and so uh we completed that last year uh and early part of this year and then for ongoing projects so we have another well that we're uh engaged in now um that we'll be working on hoping to uh get design and built potentially online and and in service this year uh which will add another 250 gallons per minute uh to the system and that that's one of those agricultural leases that we're that we're gonna do um looking to demo our uh elevated tank uh located at Eccles and Lord it's what we call our Sandia high tank we took that tank out of service I think a couple years ago redirected the wells that go to that tank and sent them over to our North 40 pump station that's located near Green Acres.

That was a small storage tank for us and and it was fairly old and and upon inspection there was quite a bit of repairs that was going to be needed and it just didn't make sense.

So that site will potentially be you know future storage site or something like that if if we if we uh see that more storage is needed.

So working to do that this year.

That's the that will tie into the Texco lateral that will allow for water to be conveyed from that connection point uh to the Texaco system.

So we're nearing design on that, and then we'll we'll put it out to bed and start construction.

Uh we'll continue to coordinate with uh the the water authority and make sure that those efforts uh line up and that that the vault will be completed there so they can tie on to it when they're ready.

Um then looking at the US 6084 middle project.

Uh love these road projects.

Um, but with that we we already have the design done on that one.

Uh so it'll be the same thing.

It'll be a cooperative agreement with the New Mexico DOT.

So we'll uh complete similar work to that.

I think it's gonna be a little bit more involved than what the East section was.

We have more main that's within the roadway and within the project limits, but we'll do the same thing.

We'll get all the old stuff out or anything that's undersized and we'll replace it with new PVC.

Uh some of it's gonna be upsized to 12 inch, so that's gonna increase fire flows in that area.

Uh we'll look at adding any hydrants that need to be added and replacing any hydrants that need to be replaced.

And same with valves.

So uh it'll be a good uh it'll be a good project.

So we'll be ready for that whenever it kicks off.

And then uh lastly, I'll talk a little bit about water conservation.

So, of course, it is uh water conservation month.

Uh Epcor partners with the City of Clovis every April for this, and uh with that, just you know, take opportunity to remind folks about the watering schedule.

So uh you know, we ask that everyone uh even numbered addresses.

So if you have an even numbered address that you water on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, and then odd number addresses will be Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday.

And of course, we asked for no outside watering at all on Mondays.

Um reb programs, so we still have all of our rebate programs in place, so that's for the uh replacing uh high flow toilets with low flow toilets, uh purchasing uh high efficiency clothes washers, landscaping rebates, so removing high water use grass and replacing it with rocks and zeerscape and things of that nature.

Uh our newest one, which I think we added a couple years ago is uh uh uh rain harvesting barrel.

So if you purchase a rain harvesting barrel and the and the apparatus that to divert water into it, uh there's uh bill credit that you can get for that up to a certain dollar amount.

Um all of those rebates are in the form of a bill credit, and all that information on those can be found on our website.

Um other things that we do for conservation is again at Epcor.com you can find tons of conservation tips for both inside and outside the home.

So how to save water uh both in and out.

Uh water conservation kits.

So if you're an active Epcor customer, you can request one of these kits and they include everything from low flow aerators for kitchen sinks, uh low flow shower heads, low-flow water nozzles uh for using outside.

Uh you can request audit leak kits, which include like dye tablets for your toilet tanks if you think you might have a toilet leak.

That's actually one of the biggest water losses in a home is through the toilet.

Um that's the one that goes most unnoticed.

Uh and and uh so those kits include dies for that, they include like water catch bags, so you can actually see, you know, hey, it's just a drop, it's not that much, right?

Well, put that bag under that drop for a minute, two minutes, and see what it adds up to, right?

It doesn't take long.

Um so you can request those audit kits and and kind of help you determine if it's you know obviously something you need to put some urgency to to get fixed.

We do a lot of community outreach, you know, whether that's through radio ads, uh print media, so uh maybe the newspaper.

We do a lot of stuff with bill inserts.

So if you've gotten your Epcor water bill, usually there's an insert in there that that talks about conservation of of some form or fashion.

So we do a lot of that stuff.

Um talked about the water carnival, so that's scheduled for May 7th.

So that's a big thing for us.

We've been doing it now for four or five years maybe.

The last three years have been we partner with the Clovis Schools, uh, and we bring in uh fifth grade students from schools from all over the area, bring them in and uh teach them about water conservation.

Um there's some fun carnival games that are included with it, you know.

So we try to make it a fun day, but we also try to really get that that education portion over because you know, you start with the kids, they take it home to the parents, and you know, hopefully it spreads from there.

So again, that'll be coming up on May 7th.

Um that completes my update, so I'm happy to answer any questions.

Thank you, Mark.

Appreciate it.

Any questions for Mark?

Uh Mark, thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Okay move on to Mr.

Howell with the C update Thank you Mr Chairman and so the C of Clove is also going to take advantage of that next uh project uh that the DOT is going to be doing for the US 6084 uh the middle project uh we're gonna be replacing all of our sewer lines that are underneath that roadway obviously getting rid of the clay pipe that that's in those areas and replacing it with uh PVC pipe uh to take advantage of the construction itself and hopefully the DOT does wrap up the current project because the one that uh the middle project is scheduled to go out to bid this summer uh and get started shortly after that uh in terms of the reuse uh system itself we are uh working on design for uh phase three of that project uh just to remind you phase three is where we're gonna be increasing the volume and capacity of the front nine uh pond at Colonial Park golf course uh and then we're also gonna be increasing the capacity of the ponds that are located at Hillcrest Park uh if you recall there's two ponds out there right now uh there's a reason for there being two ponds out there is that we actually have a sewer line that runs in between the two ponds and that's what's in that berm and so as part of this project we'll be relocating that sewer line as well we have completed the technical memo for that uh that particular phase uh and now are starting to move into the design efforts uh once those are completed then we'll be eligible to start applying for water trust board funding as we've done in the past to get the reuse system uh constructed as it is today in terms of the existing system and and delivery we've delivered through January um of this year uh 115 million gallons uh we have uh which is about 0.3 uh MGD uh we have got all the system built to where it is originally designed to be built to uh over the last couple of months the city has brought Bob Spencer Park now online uh with the reuse system itself so hopefully that'll help out with mark and his uh peak days uh in terms of our own infrastructure the last area that we need to get connected to the system is actually Mike Harris baseball field uh so we are just taking a look at that seeing what we need to do uh to make the switch over uh for that particular facility and then we'll continue to work with uh the Clovis municipal school district uh we do have meters in to all those original locations as well and so we just need to uh work with them they've got to get their own discharge permit as they bring facilities online of course and then uh tie over from their irrigation meters uh to to the new reuse system meters so with that I'm happy to answer any questions that you may have any questions okay I'll just mention that uh uh Evcor has been a great partner with City of Clovis and I think uh as Mark mentioned that we've never had to implement water restrictions but I think that's because of how well we uh reach out to the city and to the community and they'll know how important water conservation is to our community and so uh you know I think we it's something we need to continue not just month of April but from now on it's for future generations so I'm just gonna mention that to promote water conservation month throughout the community the city's organized several activities in April to educate the public we have educational booths at City Hall and the library with informational packets as well as activities for children.

We uh Facebook post and promotions on the city's Facebook and we also have done public service announcements at local radio stations.

So we're reaching out and trying to let the public know again just how important it is to conserve water and as well as information on the playas I think that's important to our community and reaching out to the children I think is huge.

They have a big impact on what their parents do.

So I think it's I think it's good when we can reach out to the younger kids.

Okay we're under uh for the good of the order see anybody have anything else okay our next meeting would be scheduled for July 13th and with that we are adjourned