Water infrastructure legislation authorizes watershed studies, millions for New Mexico sewer systems

Money for bosque restoration, a new wastewater system in Bernalillo and floodplain research in Estancia will be authorized by a federal water infrastructure bill Congress passed last week.

The Water Resources Development Act is meant to improve ports, harbors, inland waterway navigation and flood and storm protection by authorizing Army Corps of Engineer projects and other water infrastructure funds. In New Mexico, that means projects related to watersheds, sewer systems, ecosystem restoration and flood risk management rely on the legislation for funding approval. The WRDA has to be authorized every other year. It is headed to President Joe Biden’s desk for his signature.

“One of the things that we have really been trying to do is use the Water Resources Development Act to get projects funded for New Mexico that we were otherwise struggling to get funding for,” said Rep. Melanie Stansbury, D-N.M.

The town of Bernalillo has struggled to put together the financing for wastewater upgrades, so legislators got $20 million authorized in WRDA. Improving the wastewater plant should support population growth happening in Sandoval County, Stansbury said. Sandoval County saw a 4.8% population increase between 2020 and 2023, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Ensuring that Bernalillo has efficient wastewater treatment is also important for downriver communities such as Albuquerque, Stansbury said.

Bosque Farms in Valencia County will also get much-needed funding, with $10 million authorized to upgrade its wastewater facilities.

The legislation includes a wildfire prevention and wildlife restoration project in the Middle Rio Grande bosque, the forest adjacent to the river. The project would remove jetty jacks, which were built in the 1930s and 1940s for flood control.

The jetty jacks forever altered the course of the river and impacted endangered species, Stansbury said, and removing them is important to river health.

The legislation also authorizes a hydrologic study in the East Mountains.

“For many, many years, in the springtime there was some level of flooding that came through that area, and that’s why Estancia, historically, was always a stop where ranchers in particular, who were transporting their cattle or their sheep, would stop,” Stansbury said.

Part of Estancia was built in a floodplain. But as snowpack patterns have changed, it appears the floodplain has also changed, Stansbury said. Estancia has been unable to qualify for some types of federal funding to help it build water infrastructure, roads and buildings because, according to the out-of-date floodplain map, part of Estancia’s major municipal areas are in the floodplain. An updated hydrologic study should help the town prove the floodplain has shifted and make it possible for Estancia to qualify for more federal infrastructure funding.

“Making sure that Estancia can qualify again for federal infrastructure funding literally will transform that community,” Stansbury said..