Secretary Salazar Awards $27.74 Million Contract for Construction of the Navajo Nation Municipal Pipeline

10/07/2009
Last edited 09/29/2021

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar announced today that the Bureau of Reclamation has awarded a contract totaling $27.74 million to the Navajo Engineering and Construction Authority for the construction of Reaches 2 through 6 of the Navajo Nation Municipal Pipeline. NECA, a construction firm wholly-owned and operated by the Navajo Nation, will use the funds to construct the remaining 21-mile stretch (out of a total project of 29 miles) of the municipal pipeline..

"It gives me great pleasure to announce the award of this contract for constructing additional phases of the Navajo Nation Municipal Pipeline as it signifies ongoing progress towards completion of the Animas-La Plata Project,” said Secretary Salazar. “When completed, the pipeline will carry much-needed water to the communities served by the Navajo Tribal Utilities Authority in the vicinity of Shiprock, New Mexico.”

Constructing Reaches 2 through 6 of the pipelinewill entail the excavation and burial of 21 miles of PVC pipeline (24-inch diameter) and the construction of a 1-million gallon water storage tank near Nenahnezad Hill.

The Navajo Nation Municipal Pipeline was authorized as part of the Animas-La Plata Project by the Colorado Ute Settlement Act Amendments of 2000 to provide for the delivery of 4,680 acre-feet of municipal and industrial water per year from Farmington to Shiprock. The pipeline will follow the approximate alignment of the existing Farmington-to-Shiprock pipeline and will connect to existing distribution service laterals that serve communities in the Upper Fruitland, San Juan, Nenahnezad, Hogback, Shiprock, Cudei and Beclaibito Chapters.

“Construction of the Navajo Nation Municipal Pipeline is the by-product of dedicated workers, planning and design teams, project sponsors and beneficiaries joining together and contributing their training, talents and passion to complete this job,” said Reclamation Commissioner Michael L. Connor.

The Animas-La Plata Project fulfills the requirements of the 1988 Colorado Ute Indian Water Rights Settlement Act and the Colorado Ute Settlement Act Amendment of 2000. When completed, the project will provide the Navajo Nation, Southern Ute Indian Tribe and Ute Mountain Ute Tribe and the people of the Four Corners area with a reliable water supply for their future needs, without taking scarce water resources away from existing water users in southwestern Colorado and northwestern New Mexico.

The Navajo Engineering and Construction Authority, based in Shiprock, is a minority commercial construction company owned and operated by the Navajo Nation. The company has extensive experience in all phases of construction and related engineering disciplines, including: heavy civil construction, road building, water distribution systems and municipal improvements.

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