News Release Archive

Reclamation Awards Contract for Rehabilitation Work on the Navajo Indian Irrigation Project

Media Contact: Stacey Carroll, (801) 524-3813, scarroll@uc.usbr.gov
Doug Dockter, ddockter@uc.usbr.gov

For Release: March 02, 2007

The Bureau of Reclamation announced today that it has awarded a contract for $1.17 million to Gardner Zemke Company of Albuquerque, N.M., for rehabilitation work on a portion of the Navajo Indian Irrigation Project(NIIP).

"The contract award focuses on a section of the project that is currently under manual operation," said Reclamation Commissioner Robert Johnson. "This upgrade will help us to more effectively manage water on a larger scale with state-of-the-art equipment and controls."

Specifically, the contract addresses rehabilitation work at one of the 79 booster pumping plants, located near Bloomfield, NM. The contract work includes upgrading the existing pumping plant electrical equipment for a future centralized Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition System (SCADA), which will facilitate better control, monitoring and transporting of water. Additional work includes the removal of existing outdoor electrical control cabinets and housing them in a new control building to protect upgraded equipment from the elements, and interfacing to the existing plant equipment and pumping units to the upgraded system. Contract work is anticipated to be finished prior to March 1, 2009.

NIIP is a Colorado River Storage Project participating project and is composed of a complicated system of pipelines, canals, laterals, pumping plants, siphons and power transmission lines. The project uses water from Navajo Reservoir to feed the network of irrigation facilities. NIIP provides irrigation water for the Navajo Agricultural Products Industry, a business enterprise of the Navajo Nation.

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The Bureau of Reclamation is a federal agency under the U.S. Department of the Interior and is the nation's largest wholesale water supplier and second largest producer of hydroelectric power. Our facilities also provide substantial flood control, recreation opportunities, and environmental benefits. Visit our website at https://www.usbr.gov and follow us on Twitter @USBR; Facebook @bureau.of.reclamation; LinkedIn @Bureau of Reclamation; Instagram @bureau_of_reclamation; and YouTube @reclamation.