The U.S. Interior Department has awarded a nearly $84 million contract for a water pipeline in northwestern New Mexico.
The pipeline is part of the larger Navajo-Gallup Water Supply Project that's been in the works for several years. It will deliver San Juan River water to more than 40 Navajo Nation communities, the Jicarilla Apache Reservation and the city of Gallup.
The latest contract awarded to a Roanoke, Texas, company includes 30 miles of pipeline between the Navajo communities of Little Water and Naschitti. The work is scheduled to begin in January.
The overall project includes 280 miles of pipeline, water treatment and pumping plants, and storage tanks.
U-S Interior Secretary David Bernhardt says most of the work on the main line is either complete or under construction.
