U.S. Sen Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.) on Monday announced he’d successfully pressured the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation to release $120 million for ongoing construction of the Navajo-Gallup Water Supply Project, which, when completed, promises to provide a sustainable water supply to more than 250,000 people in northwest New Mexico.
The project to divert water via a 300-mile pipeline from the San Juan River to the Navajo Nation and areas nearby was finalized in 2010 when the federal Interior Department and the Nation finalized the latter’s water rights settlement.
Congress has authorized up to approximately $1.8 billion for the project, which has received funding sporadically over the last 15 years. Most recently, Luján and U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) secured $55 million toward the project in a recent federal spending bill.
At a U.S. Senate committee meeting last Wednesday, Luján questioned Scott Cameron, acting commissioner of the federal Bureau of Reclamation, about an additional $120 million dedicated to the project. Luján said the funding had been held up since January 2025 in the Reclamation Water Settlement Fund, a fund the bureau oversees that is used to pay for tribal water rights settlements nationwide.
Cameron told Luján he’d look into the matter and, on Monday, Luján announced in a news release that the bureau had “expedited” the funds’ release for the project.
“This is a critical step forward, and I remain committed to seeing this project through to completion,” Luján said in a statement.
About 40% of Navajo Nation households lack running water, and the city of Gallup, which has a population of about 20,000 people, is increasingly relying on dwindling water supplies.
While the pipeline has been under construction, Gallup’s annual groundwater production has dropped from about 3,900 acre-feet to about 2,900 acre-feet due to declining water levels, and its groundwater levels have dropped about 200 feet, requiring deeper and deeper wells, city officials have said.
The pipeline will also deliver a steady supply of water to the southwestern portion of the Jicarilla Apache, benefiting about 1,300 people.
Heinrich and U.S. Rep. Teresa Leger Fernández (D-N.M.), in statements Monday, touted the additional funding as moving the project a step forward.
“Gallup and other communities don’t have the water infrastructure they need for their health care, businesses, and residents,” Leger Fernández said. “This $120 million funding moves us closer to the day when these communities can turn on a tap and trust that water will flow.”
Construction is expected to take until at least November 2029, according to a project timeline.
