Navajo–Gallup Water Supply 

Project Newsletter

If you would like to learn more, visit our website at 

https://www.usbr.gov/uc/progact/navajo-gallup/.

3rd Quarter, April 2022

Faces of NGWSP

Ya’at’eeh, my name is Bart Deming. I 

am the new Construction Engineer 

and Manager for Reclamation’s 

Four Corners Construction Office, 

following in the footsteps of Rick 

Ehat, Barry Longwell, and Pat Page 

leading this office and the NGWSP. 

My family and I live in Hesperus, 

Colorado, near where I grew up 

and attended school at Fort Lewis 

College, before finishing my degree 

at Colorado State University. After 

working as a consulting engineer on 

water resource projects in Oregon, I 

returned to the Four Corners region 

in 2012 to take a dream job with 

Reclamation to work on the NGWSP. 

I have been fully involved helping 

design, construct, and manage the 

NGWSP as a civil engineer and 

manager ever since.

Tó éí iiná! (Water is life!) It’s truly 

an honor and privilege to be part of 

the team, along with our partners, 

bringing water to the people. As 

we’ve begun to experience in the 

past year on the Cutter Lateral, 

this project will continue to help 

provide economic development 

and job opportunities that were not 

possible without adequate access 

and availability of water. I plan to be 

here until the Project is completed, 

overseeing the federal government’s 

trust responsibilities to the Navajos 

by delivering clean, reliable, and 

sustainable drinking water to the 

Dine’.

Construction is starting on the Navajo-Gallup 

Water Supply Project along Highway 264

By Ryan Royer, Civil Engineer, Bureau of Reclamation

The Project water that will serve the people 

along New Mexico State Highway 264 and 

the capitol of the Navajo Nation, Window 

Rock, Arizona, begins its path far away in 

the mountains of southwest Colorado. The 

water that falls in this region runs off into 

streams. The streams gather into rivers 

and eventually the rivers combine into the 

San Juan River. From this river, Project 

water will be drawn, treated to drinking 

water standards, and transmitted through 

pipelines and pumping plants south along 

U.S. Highway 491 on its way to the Navajo 

Nation. 

The noticeable water transmission pipeline 

construction on the east side of Highway 491 between Twin Lakes and Little 

Water the past couple of years is similar to the construction that is getting ready to 

start along Highway 264. If you see lots of construction in the area of Yah-ta-hey 

junction, and on the north side of Highway 264 going towards Window Rock in the 

coming months, it is because construction on the water transmission line is taking 

place! 

The Navajo Code Talkers Sublateral portion of the Navajo-Gallup Water Supply 

Project was recently awarded to the contractor SJ Louis Construction Inc. of 

Rockwell, Minnesota. Beginning this past March and for the next two years, this 

next key reach of the project will be constructed, including: preparing the ground 

for pipe installation, trenching with large excavators, pipe laying (30” and 24” steel 

pipe) and backfilling. 

One method that will be used during installation of this reach, is Horizontal 

Direction Drilling, or HDD. When large washes or shallow channels, are crossed, 

the pipe must be installed deep enough to prevent exposure of the pipe after 

erosion. To do this, large boring machines are needed to drill under the wash. The 

pipe joints are first welded, and then the pipeline is pulled through the bored hole. 

If you see pipe on the ground, but no ditch, this is likely what is going on. The holes 

are bored deep enough that erosion shouldn’t be a problem for at least the next 100 

years. 

People in the area of this construction may observe materials being delivered like 

pipe, or concrete manholes and vaults. Additionally, a large concrete tank (1.5 

million gallons) will be constructed northwest of the Black Hat store. Reminder to 

please be aware of trucks and construction vehicles turning off the highway in these 

areas.

If you or someone you know is looking for employment and has the skills to 

construct pipelines, please contact Lisa Zolin at 320-253-9291 ext. 356 or cell-320-

428-8869 or email at HR@SJLouis.com

An excavator lowers part of the 

underground piping into its final resting 

place under Tohlakai Pumping Plant north 

of Yah-tah-hey Junction
Navajo–Gallup Water Supply 

Project Newsletter

If you would like to learn more, visit our website at 

https://www.usbr.gov/uc/progact/navajo-gallup/.

3rd Quarter, April 2022

Environmental Assessment for the Realignment of the San Juan Lateral 

By Eric Creeden, General Biologist & 

NEPA Coordinator, Bureau of Reclamation 

The Bureau of Reclamation is 

preparing an Environmental 

Assessment in accordance with the 

National Environmental Policy Act 

to analyze the potential impacts 

to the human environment of a 

planned realignment of the northern 

portion of the San Juan Lateral of the 

Navajo-Gallup Water Supply Project 

(NGWSP). The proposed realignment 

differs from what was analyzed and 

approved as part of the NGWSP’s 

2009 Record of Decision and Final 

Environmental Impact Statement.

The Proposed Action would include 

the acquisition of select lands and 

facilities associated with the San Juan 

Generating Station water intake, 

conveyance, and storage systems; and 

realign the northern reaches of the 

NGWSP’s San Juan Lateral water 

pipeline, including its associated 

pumping plants, water storage 

facilities, and water treatment plant. 

Use of the San Juan Generating 

Station’s water conveyance system 

was briefly detailed in the previous 

NGWSP Project Newsletter (2nd 

Quarter, Jan. 2022).

Reclamation asks the public to 

stay tuned to the NGWSP website 

(https://www.usbr.gov/uc/progact/

navajo-gallup/index.html) for 

updates on the availability to 

review and comment on the Draft 

Environmental Assessment for 

this proposed realignment, which 

is expected to be released later this 

spring. The public will be encouraged 

to provide comments during that 

review period.

By: Hubert (Chico) Quintana, Civil Engineer, Bureau of Reclamation 

Over one year ago the NGWSP Cutter Lateral began 

delivering water to eight Navajo chapters, starting with 

Dzilthnaodithle and Huerfano in October 2020, and 

finishing with Pueblo Pintado and Whitehorse Lake 

in May 2021, servicing an estimated 6,000 people or 

1,500 households. The Bureau of Reclamation Office at 

the Four Corners Construction Office in Farmington, 

New Mexico spoke with Navajo Chapter officials about 

changes they’ve noticed. 

Ojo Encino Chapter Manager Gloria Chiquito recalled 

“that residents would haul water from a local spring for 

cooking and drinking, but not anymore.” 

Ben Woody Jr., the Huerfano Chapter President shared recent developments his chapter is involved with. Since the Cutter Lateral 

Water Treatment Plant (CLWTP) began delivery, they have upgraded the pipelines in the community water system, as well as the 

recent completion of the Carson North Water Project by the Navajo Engineering & Construction Authority. Woody also shared 

that the Carson Trading Post land purchase was completed in the first week of February, which acquired 600 acres of property to 

build Navajo Housing Authority homes and has been working with the University of New Mexico to design a trail system on the 

new property for community use. He gave credit to the Cutter Lateral for the availability of water to be able to move forward with 

these development projects. Woody closed with saying that 90-95% of the Huerfano Community is now being served with the 

drinking water from the project. 

We plan to continue to update newsletter readers as we learn of more success stories.

Cutter Lateral Water Delivery – Community Feedback Over 1 Year Later

View of Cutter Lateral Water Treatment Plant looking west. Photo 

taken on May 17, 2021.