EBID Maintenance Season Projects - 2021 / 2022

Elephant Butte Irrigation District has approved the following projects for the new budget year, beginning November 1st, 2021. All projects focus on upgrades to existing infrastructure, improvement of water delivery efficiency, and improvement of RTU water delivery monitoring.

Picacho when Watersmart Grant
Bureau of Reclamation

EBID has been awarded a Bureau of Reclamation WaterSmart grant to increase efficiency of water delivered to constituent farmers by reducing losses and improving delivery timeliness. The water conservation goals are also complimented by partially offsetting increased energy requirements and enabling delivery of surface water to nearby habitat. The six major components of the grant are:

  • Pipe 6,163 feet of the Picacho Lateral
  • Pipe the entire Nusbaum Lateral, 2,634 feet in total
  • Install three high flow lift pumps at Wasteway 40 of the Picacho Lateral, allowing for direct river diversion, which will dramatically reduce water loss and increase delivery efficiency
  • Install RTU metering of the new pipelines and lift pumps, with data posted to the EBID website
  • Pipe a portion of ditch through Harris Farms LLC to the Picacho Drain to serve a new wasteway and to also enable the delivery of surface water to the nearby Bosque State Park
total grant award: $2,028,393
drought resiliency watersmart grant
bureau of reclamation

EBID has been awarded a Bureau of Reclamation WaterSmart grant which responds to drought in this region through implementing key priority projects that develop and modernize its infrastructure to facilitate watershed-scale flow management, stormwater capture, and aquifer recharge. Accurate storm monitoring is dependent on an extensive network of weather stations and rain gauges strategically placed in key watershed regions. The primary focus of our proposal is the expansion and improvement of our storm monitoring network comprised of five priority projects including:

  • Construction of a river metering cable located between the Hatch/Rincon and Mesilla Valley (Hayner Bridge location)
  • Upgrades to arroyo water level monitoring and data collection with installation of radar technology sensors
  • Installation of sixteen additional rain gauge sites
  • Installation of automated gates at four stormwater capture sites located near EBID canal diversions in the Leasburg and Mesilla areas
  • Installation of flow monitoring and two weather stations near the headwaters of the Rincon arroyo watershed
total grant award: $419,397
percha - arrey heading gate motors

This project will replace (8) electric gate actuator motors, electrical conduit and wiring, and the fuse box located in the blockhouse of Percha Dam. The existing motors were installed in the early 1990's and have become unreliable, potentially affecting water delivery. The Arrey diversion gates are critical to EBID delivery of surface water to farms in the Rincon Valley.

estimated project cost: $64,000
o'shea lateral pipe project

EBID will install a new culvert crossing where the O'Shea Lateral intersects the West Drain. The previous open flume failed and all new construction will now be underground.

estimated project cost: $25,000
leasburg canal concrete lining

Leasburg Canal metering bridge will have a 20 foot concrete lining poured and will add a center support to the current metering bridge. Also included will be the construction of a modified turnout gate that mounts an RD Instrument Channel Master ADCP (Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler) to monitor gauge height and flow. The site will also include an RTU (Remote Telemetry Unit) that will report field data to our office every 30 minutes.

estimated project cost: $15,000