Since the town incorporated in 1999, the town council has been kicking around plans for a sewage system.

The first piece of infrastructure for the plant was a segment of the collection line, which went under Interstate 40 at N.M. 344 during a roadway construction project in 2002. The collection lines are now expected to be the last phase of the treatment system to be completed.

But that's just one of the three elements needed for a functioning municipal waste treatment system, according to Karen Mahalick, who heads up the town's planning and development department.

The second element is the treatment plant itself, which was built about a year and a half ago at a cost of $1.8 million. Outside that plant, a ponding area is being built, which cost about $700,000 and should be completed in the second week of July, Mahalick said. There was a six-month delay in completing the ponding area because some of the needed hardware was not in stock due to the recession, Mahalick said.

But the big holdup will be the completion of wastewater collection lines.

Although the town signed a contract for the work about six months ago, it pulled the plug on that project and has put the work out for bid again. The contractor and the town could not come to an agreement on the quality of materials needed to do the job, Mahalick said.

Had construction gone off without a hitch, the collection lines would have been done about the same time as the ponding area, she said.

"When the contractor doesn't want to complete the system as laid out in the bid, you can't do anything," she said.

The town recently distributed bid packages again and, according to Mahalick, the same contractor picked up one of those bid packages.

There are strict laws about the criteria a municipality must use in awarding contracts, so to protect itself from having to hire what may be an unqualified contractor, the town included questions about how many years the company has been in business and if it has had a construction contract terminated, Mahalick said.

"The town hopes that will protect them from a contractor with an event in their past that might not come up (otherwise)," she said.

That project is expected to cost $1.9 million and take about six months to complete. Town councilors will be presented with a bid for approval in July and it could take about a month to get the contractor's bonding and other paperwork in order before work can begin.

In the meantime, increased levels of nitrates — contaminates often associated with septic systems — have been discovered in a commercial area where a wellhead is located. The area is roughly two miles north of Interstate 40 and east of N.M. 344. Although the water is still safe, it's a good indicator of the relative urgency for building a treatment system.

The cost of electricity for the plant while it isn't operating is $800 per month, Mahalick said. Last month the bill was over $1,400, but those charges include the use of construction equipment to build the ponding area, she said.