Navajo Gallup Water Supply Project PERs

Post Date

May 5th 2016

Application Due Date

May 19th 2016

Funding Opportunity Number

BOR-UC-16-N011

CFDA Number(s)

15.519

Funding Instrument Type(s)

Cooperative Agreement

Funding Activity Categories

Natural Resources

Number of Awards

1

Eligibility Categories

Federally Recognized Native American Tribal Governments

Funding

• Estimated Total Funding:

  $499985

• Award Range:

  $1 - $499985

Grant Description

OVERVIEW The Navajo-Gallup Water Supply Project (NGWSP), upon its completion, will provide a reliable municipal, industrial, and domestic water supply to; the Navajo Nation communities located in New Mexico; the City of Gallup located in New Mexico; Window Rock and Fort Defiance, Arizona; the Navajo Agricultural Products Industry; and a portion of the Jicarilla Apache Nation. These areas currently rely on a rapidly depleting groundwater supply that is of poor quality and inadequate to meet current and future needs. The Secretary of the Interior, acting through the Commissioner of Reclamation is authorized to design, construct, operate and maintain NGWSP facilities that include service connections to public water systems. As such, the July 2009 NGWSP Planning Report/Final Environmental Impact Statement (PR/FEIS) described large water tanks near the trunkline with booster stations that were designated as turnouts for the connections to public water systems to provide water to communities to be serviced by the main trunkline. The Construction Cost Estimate (CCE) included the costs for the tanks and booster stations associated with these turnouts, but no connection to existing public water systems. The Navajo Nation Department of Water Resources (NNDWR) has worked with the members of the NGWSP Project Construction Committee (PCC) to develop a prioritized connection plan list. These proposed connection plans are different than the connection concepts in the PR/FEIS in that the connection plans are based on conveying water from the main NGWSP trunkline to the supply points of the closest Navajo Tribal Utility Authority (NTUA) public water systems. While the connections to existing and future water distribution systems are important to the NGWSP, it is uncertain whether room exists within the CCE to design and construct all of these connection plans. Given the importance of the connection plans, the Navajo Nation and Reclamation have determined that it is in the best interest of the NGWSP to complete Preliminary Engineering Reports (PERs), as described in United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Utilities Service (RUS) Bulletin 1780-2, on the highest priority connection plans. A PER is a planning document required by many state and federal agencies as part of the process of obtaining financial assistance for development of drinking water, wastewater, solid waste, and stormwater projects. An applicant for funding from the Waste and Water Disposal (WWD) program must submit a PER as required by 7 CFR 1780.33(c) and 1780.55. The PER describes the proposed project from an engineering perspective, analyzes alternatives to the proposal, defines project costs, and provides information critical to the underwriting process. The connection plans were priority ranked and selected based on the number of water haulers, the percent of water haulers in the communities, the shortage of groundwater, the cost per acre-foot of water delivered, and construction sequencing. The PERs would result in much more reliable estimates of the total connection costs, and would be used to leverage funds from other programs for design and construction. RECIPIENT INVOLVEMENT 1. Under this Modification to the Agreement, the Recipient shall develop a second group of five (5) PERs for the next priority selection of NGWSP connection plans. The work will be performed by NNDWR staff and their professional engineering consultant. These connections will distribute water to Navajo Nation Chapters (which include Navajo community houses and businesses) from the San Juan Lateral, which is part of the NGWSP. The added scope of work requires the Recipient to develop detailed PERs only (including Water Age Studies as needed), and does not commit to additional design activities or construction activities of the identified reaches. The second group of PERs will be developed for the following connections (shown with associated reach numbers), and separated into five (5) PERs as follows: 1. Twin Lakes (12.5) 2. Pinedale (14.3a) _ to also include Water Age Study 3. Mariano Lake (14.4a) _ to also include Water Age Study 4. Red Rock/Baahaali/Chichiltah (14.6b, 14.7b, 14.8b) _ Water Age Study only 5. Tsayatoh/Rock Springs (12.4 & 12.6) PERs will be developed pursuant to and as described in United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Utilities Service (RUS) Bulletin 1780-2. They will include; project planning, description of the background, existing facilities, the need for the project, alternatives considered, selection of an alternative, proposed project (recommended alternative), and overall conclusions and recommendations. PERs will also include an analysis of environmental impact and land issues including a description of the purpose and need of the proposed action, alternatives to the proposed action, a description of the effected environment and environmental consequences, a summary of potential mitigation, and a record of agency correspondence. Within the second group of PERs, it has been determined that some PERs need to include a Water Age Study. One of the most critical factors to determine the feasibility of any given chapter connection to the NGWSP will be the quality of the project water by the time it reaches individual chapter houses. Currently there exist water quality concerns with chlorine decay and disinfection by-product (DBP) generation. If the water quality has deteriorated to a point of risking non-compliance by the time it reaches Navajo Nation Chapters, this would affect the feasibility of connecting that chapter to the NGWSP. Such an analysis, by means of a Water Age Study, must be considered in the PER in order for the PER to be of real value. Both the Navajo Nation and Reclamation concur that Water Age Studies (for the most remote Chapters) are reasonable and necessary in determining the feasibility of connections plans associated with the NGWSP. 2. The Recipient will be responsible for the following: (a) Furnish all materials and perform the work with its own forces and/or contract for the work to be performed. (b) Secure any rights of way, permission to access lands, and permits and perform any regulatory compliance work associated with design data collection and/or investigations necessary for the development of the PERs. (c) Provide Reclamation with information copies of award documents for contracts or subcontracts issued. The Recipient shall provide Reclamationмs representative advance notification for all proposed contract actions involving funding, changes or disputes, for Reclamation concurrence, in writing, prior to award or modification issuance. Reclamation shall expediently review and respond to recipientмs submittals in order to effectively and efficiently complete the work of this Agreement. (d) The Recipient acting not as an agent of the U.S. Government and, in performing work, shall not represent that it is acting in any manner as an agent of or on behalf of the United States. (e) Include all materials required for submittals under cover of a transmittal letter. (f) Complete financial and performance reports. (g) Hold Reclamation harmless from any claims for any payments by all Recipient contractors, subcontractors and consultants for payment by all contractors, subcontractors and/or consultants arising from any Recipient contract. (h) Performing any and all work undertaken by the Recipient pursuant to this Agreement and all records pertaining thereto shall at all reasonable times and with reasonable advance notice to the Recipient, be open and subject to inspection by Reclamation. RECLAMATION INVOLVEMENT Substantial involvement on the part Reclamation is anticipated during the performance of activities funded by this award. In particular, Reclamation will be responsible for the following: (a) Provide technical reviews of all the preliminary engineering reports (PERs), including Water Age Studies as needed, to include; comments, recommendations, and concurrences of all of submittals, draft PERs and the final PERs.

Contact Information

• Agency

  Department of the Interior

• Office:

  Bureau of Reclamation

• Agency Contact:

  Deborah Chorlton
  Grants Management Specialist
  Phone 801-524-3734

• Agency Mailing Address:

  Work

• Agency Email Address:

  dchorlton@usbr.gov