The project team worked through tough issues to complete the $70.7-million project in April 2022 on budget and on schedule for the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. It’s Reclamation’s first design-build water treatment plant. The plant provides safe drinking water to eastern portions of the Jicarilla Apache and Navajo nations.
Constructing the facility in the remote location in northwest New Mexico “required creative thinking,” one contest judge said. For example, when no water was available when field work started, the team contacted the local community, found well water that was used for industrial purposes and hauled it to the site. Power that had been planned to be at the site before construction began also was not available, so the team used temporary power from generators.