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Thursday, July 10, 2008

Moriarty To Update Its Water Master Plan

By Rory Mcclannahan
Mountain View Telegraph
      With several development on projects on tap within the city of Moriarty — including the planned construction of the Downs at Albuquerque racetrack and casino — city officials want to make sure that it will have the water and infrastructure to serve those needs.
    The Moriarty City Council voted at its regular meeting Tuesday to take the first step at assuring future growth by updating the city's water master plan. The plan was last updated in 1997, said Albert Thomas of Bohannan-Huston, the city's contract engineer.
    “With new development slated for the city, it is real important to update the plan,” Thomas said.
    One stumbling block is the cost.
    Thomas said updating the water master plan would cost nearly $95,000, money the city will have to find.
    Updating the water master plan will go in three phases, Thomas said, and the city could complete each part separately as it has money available. The first phase would be an examination of current demands on the city's water system, update the system map, critique current and future pumping.
    The second phase would include looking at what water rights the city has and the future needs. It also would look at the capacity of the city's equipment and make recommendations for upgrades. That third phase would study the needs of the city's water infrastructure and make recommendations for upgrades.
    Thomas said that it could take up to four months to complete the updated water master plan.
    Councilors Steve Anaya and Bobby Ortiz pointed out that several items within the master plan update proposal may not need to be done.
    Anaya pointed out that the city did an assessment of water rights last year. Ortiz said that it studying the capacity of two of the city's wells isn't needed because they have run dry and a new well is currently being drilled to replace them.
    “It seems to me that there is a lot of stuff there that doesn't need to be done as part of this,” Anaya said.
    Thomas said that he would explore those options and return to the council.
    The council did, however, vote to start on the whole master plan update and instructed city staff to look at different methods to pay for it.
    “It's obvious this is something we need to do as soon as possible,” said Mayor Adan Encinias.
   

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