Reclamation moves the Navajo-Gallup Water Supply Project forward with contract award for challenging underground crossings

WASHINGTON - The Bureau of Reclamation announced a $75.5 million contract award to Flatland Energy Services LLC for construction of the Block 2-3 Pipeline Horizontal Directional Drilling (HDD) components for the Navajo-Gallup Water Supply Project in northwest New Mexico. 

"With this contract, Reclamation has awarded more than $143 million in contracts to advance construction of the Navajo Gallup Water System this year, said Assistant Secretary for Water and Science Andrea Travnicek. "The Trump-Vance Administration is making great progress on this important project to bring clean, reliable drinking water to the Navajo Nation."

Work is for portions of the Block 2-3 pipeline, which begins at the Frank Chee Willetto Reservoir approximately 17 miles east of Shiprock, New Mexico, and ends at the San Juan Lateral Water Treatment Plant, which is currently under construction approximately 6 miles east of the intersection of U.S. Highway 491 and Navajo Route 36 in the Hogback Chapter in San Juan County.

"This work includes some of the most complex horizontal directional drilling installations performed to date on the NGWSP, including the San Juan River crossing and Nenahnezad Hill bore, which includes a 250-foot elevation change," said Reclamation's Western Colorado Area Office Manager Bart Deming, who oversees the Four Corners Construction Office completing this work. "This installation on Reaches 2 and 3 will allow the pipeline to cross beneath the San Juan and Chaco Rivers and avoid other challenging terrain and existing infrastructure where traditional trenching would be difficult or impractical."

The contractor will install nearly 10,000 feet of new water supply pipeline using HDD, a trenchless method that allows underground placement with minimal surface disruption. The work includes four critical underground crossings for Block 2-3, using 36 to 42-inch diameter pipe placed beneath sensitive terrain and important Navajo traditional cultural sites-including Shumway Arroyo, the San Juan River, Nenahnezad Hill, and the Chaco River without disturbing surface features. Individual pipeline sections will range from roughly 2,000 to 3,300 feet in length and vary in depth, with the Nenahnezad Hill segment navigating an elevation change of approximately 250 feet.

Once complete, these pipeline segments in conjunction with the rest of the Block 2-3 Pipeline will deliver water from the Frank Chee Willetto Reservoir to the San Juan Lateral Water Treatment Plant and will provide a long-term, sustainable water supply for communities across the Navajo Nation in New Mexico and eastern Arizona, as well as Gallup, New Mexico.

Construction under this contract is expected to begin in summer 2026 and conclude in fall 2028. In April, Reclamation announced award of a contract to construct the water system's San Juan intake facility.

The San Juan Lateral is more than 70% complete with initial water deliveries slated for late 2028 and final project completion by the end of 2029.

The Navajo-Gallup Water Supply Project is the cornerstone of the Navajo Nation Water Rights Settlement in the San Juan River Basin in New Mexico and was authorized for construction by the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009, known as Public Law 111-11. Construction began in 2012, and the completed project will include approximately 300 miles of pipeline, two water treatment plants, 19 pumping plants and multiple water storage tanks. The project helps address the needs of the Navajo Nation, where more than one in three people do not have indoor plumbing and must haul drinking water to their homes.

For more information, visit the NGWSP website.