SB 200 TIMBERON WATER SYSTEM IMPROVEMENTS

Sen Ron Griggs

Actions: [2] SCC/SCONC/SFC-SCC-germane-SCONC [4] DP-SFC

Scheduled: Not Scheduled

  Senate Bill 200 (SB 200) appropriates two million five hundred thousand dollars ($2,500,000) to the Department of Environment to plan, design and construct water system improvements for the Timberon Water and Sanitation District in Timberon in Otero County. 

 Senate Bill 200 (SB 200) appropriates two million five hundred thousand dollars ($2,500,000) from the General Fund (GF) to Department of Environment for expenditure in Fiscal Year (FY) 2025 through FY 2028 to plan, design and construct water system improvements for the Timberon Water and Sanitation District in Timberon in Otero County.
 
Any unexpended or unencumbered balance remaining at the end of FY 2028 reverts to the GF.  

 Timberon is a census-designated place (CDP) in Otero County, New Mexico and is within the Sacramento Mountains at the southern edge of the Lincoln National Forest, directly north of Fort Bliss Military Reservation It loses about 85 percent of the water in its system to leaks and breakages that the Timberon Water and Sanitation District operates (TWSD).  The TWSD manager estimated a loss of 4.4 million gallons in April, 2023. Timberon’s water lines are 50 years old and were initially installed incorrectly including the use of too narrow pipe, thin-walled pipe, lack of sand or soft dirt beds and inadequate burial of lines. The price to lay new water lines in Timberon alone hovers around $45 million. Infrastructure grants totaling more than $1.1 million have won provisional approval but remain held up by red tape. The state legislature declined an appropriations request in 2023.

https://www.abqjournal.com/news/environment/timberon-has-water-water-everywhere-and-not-a-drop-to-drink-or-flush-blame-the/article_6b3848a8-1b4c-11ee-a837-c310da338d41.html

https://www.prc.nm.gov/consumer-relations/company-directory/water-companies/timberon-water-and-sanitation-district/



 

 SB 200 relates to SB 95.