Click the link to read the article on The Durango Herald website (Maria Tedesco). Here’s an excerpt:
The Ute Mountain Ute Tribe received $7.5 million for a new design of a pipeline that delivers drinking water to Towaoc. The funding for the design is the first step toward the pipeline’s replacement. The funding is focused on 18 miles of the 22-mile pipeline, which delivers water from the McPhee Reservoir before it is treated in Cortez and piped to Towaoc…This funding for the pipeline comes from an Inflation Reduction Act program. The funding is under IRA Section 50231, based on the Tribal Domestic Water Supply Program. Administered by the Bureau of Reclamation, the funding supports the planning and construction of domestic water infrastructure projects…
[Manuel] Heart said the soil was not tested before the part of the pipeline was originally installed, which has caused maintenance issues…Heart said the water leaks have cost between $80,000 and $300,000 to fix depending on where the water break is.