$473 million from the federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act have been promised so far to New Mexico to clean up drinking water and improve storm and wastewater systems.
Both the state’s congressional delegation and the state government have a huge role to play in getting funds and figuring out what to do with the money.
Southwest Environmental Finance Center Director Heather Himmelberger said after decades of “infrastructure weeks” but little movement on funds, this chunk of money is very welcome in New Mexico.
“Finally, I feel like this is infrastructure’s moment, and in particular water’s moment,” she said.
Her department works with communities to access this money for water projects. Water funds from the infrastructure act pass through several different federal departments, including Agriculture and Interior, as well as the Environmental Protection Agency.
The latter go into state revolving funds managed by the New Mexico Environment Department and Finance Authority.
“There's two different agencies, but they work similarly to reach out to let people know the money's there,” she said.
Himmelberger said when communities show interest the agencies with the money will begin a conversation about how it will be spent and what is needed.
Her department works with both agencies to get the money to New Mexico communities, and she said that money gets to the state through allocations based on formulas that factor in population and need.
Before the formulas are put to use there is also money that’s taken out first by Congress. That is called congressionally directed spending, which Himmelberger said used to be known as earmarks.
“They're taking money right off the top of that allocation, and saying we want it to go to this group, or that group, or that community, or that water system for whatever projects they want,” she said.
The federal government is putting over $50 billion towards water projects countrywide. Himmelberger said it matters a lot what states do with that money.
“If we don't do a good job getting the money out today, then I think we're going to have a really hard time going to Congress and saying ‘Give us $50 billion more,’” she said.
New Mexico Legislative Finance Committee Director Charles Sallee said it’s actually harder than you think to spend all that money.
“What you don't want to do is just chase every federal dollar that may not be consequential, that may not be an area where you're a leader in to make good use of,” he said.
Sallee said he has seen agencies spend a lot of time chasing small amounts of money and then lose time to perform their regular work.
“What's the scale for being able to make an impact within the state?” he said.
That’s a question that State Engineer Mike Hamman considers as he serves as the state’s advisor on where infrastructure act money should go for water projects. He said it’s a tough job for the understaffed department.
“We're not even well positioned at the state government to do all the grant writing and project management and stuff like that. We're already maxed out,” he said.
He added that while they’re trying to rebuild, the jobs they need to fill require high level technical skills. Those workers are able to get better salaries in the private sector.
He said on top of building up the workforce, he also wants to add to, “the capacity to not only build the project but to adequately maintain it so that you don't fall back into that old cycle of well, you build it, then it deteriorates, then you have to go back and fix it again.”
U.S. Representative Teresa Leger Fernandez said there is also a lot of work involved in getting the money taken directly from the top.
“When you’re at the federal level, you do the big picture,” she said.
And you get big projects that really need the money through the door. In New Mexico, that includes the Eastern New Mexico Water Supply Project, which will pipe in water from the Ute Reservoir to a handful of communities and Cannon Air Force Base.
It also includes the Navajo-Gallup Water Supply Project, which will bring water from the San Juan River to parts of the Navajo and Jicarilla Apache nations and the city of Gallup.
While these projects were already in the works, Leger Fernandez said she and the rest of the New Mexico congressional delegation support work like what Himmelberger does.
They don’t want the infrastructure act money to only go to “shovel-ready” projects, but also ones that still need to be designed.
“For me, what it means is that our beautiful rural areas will be able to continue to exist,” she said.
And to potentially keep getting money after the infrastructure act funds dry up, when communities will still need to keep safe drinking water flowing and wastewater cleaned up.
This coverage is a collaboration with KUNM and is part of a series made possible by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and the Water Desk at the University of Colorado-Boulder.
