Location: city of Jal (Lea County), New Mexico

Issue: The city of Jal needed to meet conditions in order to receive federal funding for water system improvements.

Outcome: RCAC provided a loan to the City to finance design engineering costs.

The city of Jal, in southeastern New Mexico, distributes 330 million gallons of potable water annually to more than 2,000 customers. The wells are in satisfactory condition, but the water transmission lines need to be replaced, as do parts of a pump station.

More than 80 major repairs have been made to the water system in the last five years, at great cost to the city so the need for water system improvements that minimize system leakage is significant.

The city qualified for federal funds to make these improvements, but standard procedure for U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) funding is to not release funds until all requirements outlined in the Letter of Conditions (LOC) are met and the project has advanced to the construction phase.  RCAC offers interim financing to cover those costs.

In October 2015, the city of Jal received a $1,118,700 loan from RCAC. The city was able to obtain professional engineering services to complete a comprehensive Preliminary Engineering Report and began initial design work, including data collection, storage tank design and water modeling, which will enable access to USDA funds.

Once completed, the new water system will provide Jal’s residents more secure water access, pressure for fire protection, minimized leakage and cost savings.