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USDA Brings Water To Navajo Community In New Mexico

  USDA Rural Development State Director Terry Brunner was in Mariano Lake, New Mexico northeast of Gallup Friday to participate in a dedication ceremony which saw a new water system begin the flow of water to the residents of this Navajo Nation community.

During the event, Brunner said, "These are the types of projects that are so special because for the first time many of residents of this community have running water flowing to their homes.” He added, "The Obama administration made a promise five years ago that we would work to provide basic service to everyone living in rural America and seeing the water flow here today shows that we’ve kept that promise.”

USDA Rural Development provided a $1-million Native American set-aside grant through its Water and Environment Program to build the first phase of the water system that serves the 200 families that make up the Mariano Lake Chapter on the Navajo Nation.

By completing this phase of construction another water project by the Indian Health Service (IHS) will be made possible for four other phases which will complete water service to the rest of the community.

This phase of construction saw more than 46-thousand feet of water lines of varying sizes to be installed plus various types of equipment and water service to 25 homes.

The construction of the water system had it challenges including a portion of some of the waterlines traveling close to an abandoned uranium mine site. This resulted in significant work to make sure the waterlines were installed correctly because of the close proximity to the contaminated areas.

Information from USDA