INFRASTRUCTURE - JM Eagle

Case Study: Navajo NationVital Statistics° Finding funding for the Eastern Navajo Waterline Project was a challenge, but a number of playersstepped up to make financial commitments, including the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the stateof New Mexico, the Indian Health Service, Navajo chapters and the Navajo Nation Abandoned MineLand program.° The four phases of water pipeline will connect eight Navajo chapters. Phase 5—still to bedetermined—would tie the four phases to the San Juan River, possibly as a U.S. Bureau ofReclamation project.° The four phases, once installed, will consist of 53 miles of pipe (not all HDPE). Phase 3 will include18 miles of pipe, possibly PVC, and phase 4 will probably use PVC pipe as well.° The Eastern Navajo Waterline Project is part of the $870 million Navajo-Gallup Water SupplyProject that is designed to serve an estimated 250,000 people in the Navajo Nation, the JicarillaApache Nation and the city of Gallup, N.M., by 2040.April 2005, New Mexico signed the SanJuan River Settlement Agreement, whichprovided for water development projectsto benefit the Navajo Nation in exchangefor a release of water claims by the Navajo.In April 2009, the federal Omnibus PublicLands Management Act of 2009 was signedby President Obama, authorizing the U.S.Bureau of Reclamation to construct theNavajo-Gallup Water Supply Project.“Our grandfathers used to talk aboutseeing water pipes in our future from faraway,” says Sam Sage, president of theNavajo Nation. “They told us we’d beable to get water in our homes, and this iscoming to pass.”Sage says the Navajo Nation is elatedat the prospect of having access to safe,clean water in the near future. “Nowthere’s actually construction going in.We’re very thankful for it, and the peoplewill have clean water to drink,” he says.“There’s a lot of good this project isgoing to do to allow people to live in thecommunity,” adds Dwayne Fahnlander,project manager for BRB Contractors Inc.in Topeka, Kan., which beat out 53 othercontractors to take on the waterline project.“It’s very promising for these folks.” O22 Water Infrastructure • Summer 2010 www.jmeagle.com