U.S. Sen Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.) on Monday announced he’d successfully pressured the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation to release $120 million for ongoing construction of the Navajo-Gallup Water Supply Project, which, when completed, promises to provide a sustainable water supply to more than 250,000 people in northwest New Mexico. The project to divert water via a 300-mile pipeline from the [Colorado River tributary] San Juan River to the Navajo Nation and areas nearby was finalized in 2010 when the federal Interior Department and the Nation finalized the latter’s water rights settlement. Congress has authorized up to approximately $1.8 billion for the project.

Other water infrastructure news:

• SJV Water (Bakersfield, Calif.): Pipeline remains stalled as Kings County ag titans continue court battle
• Carmichael Times (Calif.): Well, well, well