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An East Mountains community is $2.5 million closer to a reliable drinking water system.

Bernalillo County commissioners unanimously committed general fund dollars for the Carnuel Water and Wastewater Project during their regular commission meeting Tuesday.

For more than a decade, the county has been working with the sa国际传媒官网网页入口 Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority on expanding municipal water and wastewater service into Carnuel. Some families in Carnuel rely on well water or hauled water, according to JJ Herrera, president of the Ca帽贸n de Carnu茅 Land Grant.

鈥淲e have a lot of families that are leaving their family homes that have been there for generations,鈥� Herrera said.

The Ca帽贸n de Carnu茅 Land Grant was established in 1763, but Carnuel residents are also part of the city, with sa国际传媒官网网页入口 addresses. Some wells are drying up as the aquifer lowers, said Moises Gonzales, vice president of the Ca帽贸n de Carnu茅 Land Grant.

鈥淩eally, it鈥檚 about our survival as a community,鈥� Gonzales said. 鈥淚f we don鈥檛 have sewer and water, then we鈥檙e not going to survive as a community.鈥�

The money will be used to try to secure grant funding from the State Water Trust Board. The grant that the project is competing for could bring in $10 million to $15 million, said County Commissioner Eric Olivas, who sponsored the resolution.

鈥淭his is one of our original seven land grants. There鈥檚 only two of them that are truly still active and in operation today,鈥� Olivas said.

Carnuel is 鈥済eologically challenged鈥� with granite beneath many of the roads and homes, Olivas said. The granite makes it harder and more expensive to install water systems.

鈥淯nlike in the South Valley, where you鈥檙e going through clay, or in sa国际传媒官网网页入口 on the West Mesa, where you鈥檙e going through sand, they鈥檙e having to cut through granite, and so it does raise the cost dramatically,鈥� Gonzales said.

Local, federal and state legislators, along with the Water Authority and Carnuel鈥檚 Mutual Domestic Water and Wastewater Association, have already obtained $12 million from the state Water Trust Board, the New Mexico Drinking Water Revolving Fund, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act for Carnuel鈥檚 water system, according to David Morris, spokesman for the sa国际传媒官网网页入口 Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority.

Since 2008, the Water Authority has completed six miles of pipeline and a 380,000-gallon reservoir. The community still needs another 17陆 miles of pipeline, according to Morris. The next phase in water infrastructure construction has already been funded for $350,000 and should be complete in the fall. That phase will build another 640 feet of pipe.

Bernalillo County also committed $3.8 million in federal American Rescue Plan Act dollars to the Water Authority for a Carnuel sewer system. The first phase of the sewer system project is out for bids and slated to start in the fall. That project will include the installation of about 13,000 linear feet of low pressure sewer line, which could serve 142 households.

The Carnuel population is approximately 2,000 people with 800 households, according to Morris.