Where: Lybrook, New Mexico
Issue: The Lybrook Water Users Association was out of compliance with state regulations.
Outcome: RCAC helped bring the system into compliance.
Lybrook is a very small rural water system serving 60 connections in Rio Arriba, Sandoval and San Juan counties in western New Mexico. Although 90 percent of the residents are Navajo, the community is not part of the Reservation.
In July 2015, residents elected new members to the water board. The system was facing several technical, managerial and financial challenges. The manager/operator had quit because the system did not have money to pay him. He had been responsible for submitting reports to state agencies; without his services, the system’s sampling, budgets and audits fell out of compliance.
The board president, therefore, volunteered to learn about the system but was unable to get reliable information from the bookkeeper and former president. Souder Miller & Associates, an engineering firm helping the system through the Navajo Nation, referred the board president and former manager/operator (who was helping the new board on a voluntary basis) to RCAC for technical assistance.
At the same time, the board requested that RCAC complete a rate analysis, suggesting that the system could increase its revenues. The analysis, however, uncovered other problems, such as the board’s general lack of knowledge about the system’s requirements and regulations, the loss of significant commercial and residential customers, which led to a severe revenue decrease, and management problems. Lybrook also had to get an extension on a 2012 state Board of Finance emergency loan to repair a water pump motor that had been struck twice by lightning. RCAC staff helped the board apply for the extension, renewed the loan and scheduled repayment to begin in 2018.
RCAC staff then helped Lybrook’s board members develop a new budget from scratch—compiling electric, insurance and bank records, and calculating other operational expenses based on cost structures from systems similar to Lybrook.
Meanwhile, Lybrook has been able to re-hire its operator and has also brought on a new bookkeeper. Board members are also participating in RCAC trainings and are promoting community involvement. Thanks to RCAC’s work, Lybrook’s water board president and secretary/treasurer are motivated to make the system stronger and more financially sustainable.
