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Gallup Council approves G-22 settlement pact

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Vote relates to bigger Navajo-Gallup Water Supply Project

The Gallup City Council has unanimously approved an agreement with the U.S. Department of the Army that relates to the G-22 water settlement. The act took place at a special meeting on May 26 at Gallup City Hall.

City Attorney George Kozeliski directed the meeting which was called specifically to address the G-22 issue. There were little to no comments by council members on the matter. Councilor Yogash Kumar did not attend the meeting.

“This settles our G-22 water application with the last major protestant,” Kozeliski said after the meeting. “If we didn’t settle with them we would have had to go to a full hearing in late June in front of the Office of the State Engineer.”

The matter is connected to surface water backup of the near $1 billion Navajo-Gallup Water Supply Project. At a special meeting on April 19, council members approved another settlement agreement on G-22 water application litigation with the Whispering Cedars Mutual Domestic Water Users Association and a separate approval of a settlement agreement on G-22 water application litigation with the Juniper Trails Water Association.

The term G-22 refers to a deep underground water basin also known as the San Andres Glorieta formation.

“This is our backup water supply should anything happen to Navajo-Gallup, like long-term drought in Colorado,” Kozeliski said after the first special water settlement meeting. “We have pumped this aquifer for many decades, and the water levels are dropping in these wells and we need to secure another source of water, and that is why G-22, a deeper, separate aquifer, is being pursued.”

Kozeliski noted that had the city council not voted on the matter, then a trial would have been likely.

By Bernie Dotson
Sun Correspondent

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