Big Bucks for Buckman

Santa Fe’s city and county water diversion project that has been pumping water from the Rio Grande to area residents for over 11 years is about to receive a second, major cash injection.

Nearly four years ago the Buckman Direct Diversion Board filed a lawsuit against three firms hired to design and construct the diversion project, citing numerous failures and deficiencies. On March 15 the board approved the second settlement with the Massachusetts-based, design firm CDM Smith for $34 million.

That follows a $36 million settlement in April 2021, when the board approved another agreement with two other design firms responsible for the construction and service of the project—CH2M Hill Constructors, of Delaware, and Western Summit Constructors, of New Mexico.

The full $70 million will go back into the diversion project, Rick Carpenter, the project’s facilities manager, tells SFR. “It is the intent of the Buckman Direct Diversion board that all of that be put back into making the necessary repairs and replacements for the BDD project,” Carpenter says.

The diversion project, which saw the City of Santa Fe and Santa Fe County enter a joint powers agreement to manage operation of the facility, provides residents with another source of water in addition to that from the Buckman and city well fields and the Santa Fe River. (Las Campanas is a limited partner in the project.)

In 2015, four years after the diversion project’s unveiling, officials discovered structural problems with the pipeline operations, which transports water from the Rio Grande to the Santa Fe area. Too much sediment was sucked into the treatment plant causing long-term damage to the infrastructure.

The diversion project cost over $225 million to plan, design and build. The lawsuit indicates that the board paid CDM Smith $10 million for the engineering services agreement; the other two design firms received $190 million for services and construction under the design-build contract.

The board’s lawsuit notes an inspection in April 2015 found a range of deficiencies with the project’s intake screens, floor drains, pump systems and other problems.

The three firms opted to settle “to avoid further expense, burden, and delay associated with the” lawsuit, according to the two agreements; none of the design groups admitted to liability or wrongdoing.

Despite the design failures, City Councilor Carol Romero-Wirth, who chairs the board, credits the employees for their continued operation of the facility.

“Not only were we able to deliver the water in sufficient quantities and at the level that we needed, but we’ve also been in compliance with all the water quality standards,” she tells SFR.

Asked whether the $70 million will cover all the necessary repair costs, Carpenter says, “There are so many variables right now with inflation and the cost of construction materials and things, I don’t know. That’s why we’re forming a committee of experts to assess that very situation.”

At the board’s direction, Carpenter will establish a committee to study how the money will be put back into the diversion project. He says members must still be selected, and the work is just beginning now that the case has fully settled.

Nancy Long, the project’s attorney, tells SFR that the board has received funds for the first settlement, but the board is waiting to receive the $34 million settlement from CDM Smith. The settlement agreement states CDM Smith must pay the board within 45 days of the lawsuit’s dismissal.

Long says the agreement marks the end of litigation with the design firms. “This is the conclusion of it, thank goodness,” she adds.

“We’re looking forward to getting to work and doing the work that needs to be done to ensure the long term viability of this really important facility,” says Romero-Wirth.