Tuesday, April 24, 2007
SWOP homepagePajarito Mesa Gets Cash for Water System
BY JUAN-CARLOS RODRIGUEZ
Journal Staff Writer
This year’s Legislature set aside more money for Pajarito Mesa’s elusive community water source, but a plan for the system has yet to be finalized.Gov. Bill Richardson’s request for $250,000 for a water system was passed by the Legislature in a capital expenditures bill. It will be added to the $500,000 the governor designated last year for the project.
“We would like to thank the governor for giving us this extra money,” said Sandra Montes, president of the Pajarito Mesa Mutual Domestic Water Consumers Association.
The association is a group of Pajarito Mesa residents who have organized to lobby for a communal water source because one does not exist on the mesa. Mesa residents currently transport water from other water sources on the valley floor to their homes.
The association has been working toward the goal for several years. Although the funding is in place to start a project, there is still no plan.
The state is using the Albuquerque-Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority as its fiscal agent to distribute the money and the authority has taken over planning for the project.
“What’s been lacking is a plan to proceed,” said Mark Sanchez, executive director of the authority. “We were asked (by the association and the state) to step in and solve the problem.
We’re trying to do that to the best of our ability.”
The association’s original plan was to create a community well that could be used by association members on donated land. But during the course of the planning discussions at the end of last year, the authority came up with alternatives.
The plan Sanchez said seemed most feasible was to construct a large water tank at the west end of Pajarito SW, just at the top of the mesa.“Water would be trucked in (by the authority) from an existing fill station,” Sanchez said.
“Residents could pull up and fill large containers for their own drinking water purposes.”
Sanchez added that one missing piece of the puzzle is land on which to construct the tank. He said no costs have been finalized, but he thinks the majority of the money that has been set aside for the association would be consumed by the project for planning, construction and land purchase.
“That’s one of the challenges, because without land, we’re forced into the process of having to acquire land, which is always difficult and expensive and time consuming,” Sanchez said.
The authority would deliver the water once a day and charge the association monthly for the water. The association would be responsible for collecting money from its members to pay the bill.
Montes said she hopes that, with the additional money provided by the Legislature this year, the well option may still be on the table.
“We are asking Mr. Sanchez to pursue that option,” Montes said.
Sanchez said a well would not be feasible because there is no guarantee that water under the mesa is drinkable, but there’s no way to tell before drilling a hole and testing the water.
Bernalillo County Commissioner Teresa Córdova said another issue with the well was securing water rights for it.
“But we’re doing everything we can to assist them in their efforts,” Córdova said of the association.
Montes said that, whichever option works out, it can’t happen soon enough.
“We are anxious to get started as soon as possible,” Montes said.
