Title
Approval of Services Agreement No. AGR 22-961 with Rio de Chama Acequia Association, Inc, in the amount of $80,000.00, plus Applicable Gross Receipts Tax, for the Purpose of Bulk Water Purchase
Recommended Action
I move that the Board of Public Utilities approve Services Agreement No. AGR 22-961 with Rio de Chama Acequia Association in the amount of $64,850.00 and a contingency in the amount of $15,150.00, for a total of $80,000.00, plus applicable gross receipts tax, for the Purchase of the 2022 Allocation of San Juan-Chama Project Water, and forward to Council for approval.
Staff Recommendation
Staff recommends approval of the purchase contract as presented.
Body
In the past, since we have not initiated beneficial use within Los Alamos County, we have contracted the lease back of our San Juan - Chama (SJ-C) Water Project water to the Bureau of Reclamation to help augment stream flows in the Rio Grande. This has been accomplished via an annual contract between the Bureau and the County. The full volume of SJ-C water for Los Alamos County is 1,200 acre-feet (AF). This is the second year we are doing something a little different. The Rio Chama Acequia Association (RCAA) has procured funding through the New Mexico Legislature to purchase a 1,080.83 AF portion of the County's SJ-C allocation; with an option to purchase the full volume allocation dependent on future funding and allocation availability. The RCAA will put their purchased water to beneficial use through the irrigation of crops within the RCAA.
This purchase contract was developed in cooperation with the Bureau of Reclamation staff and attorneys for both the RCAA and the County. This contract helps strengthen the County's water right claim for SJ-C Project water by utilizing a portion (or all) of it's SJ-C Project water for beneficial use through agricultural irrigation. The price offered by the RCAA is in line with recent historic prices developed by the Bureau; which includes...
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