Santa Fe awards $2.19m design contract for Buckman intake overhaul
City of Santa Fe Water Division, New Mexico · Meeting date: November 5, 2026 · Published: November 6, 2026
Stantec Consulting Services will evaluate and advance a preferred redesign of the Buckman Direct Diversion river intake, which is intended to improve raw-water diversion reliability while reducing sediment and debris entering the system. The board approved funding from settlement funds for the contract.
Key points
- The board approved award of RFP FY26-TRFQP-A&E-094 and a professional-services agreement with Stantec Consulting Services.
- The contract provides up to $1,987,563.66 plus a $200,000 contingency, for a total not-to-exceed amount of $2,187,563.66 excluding New Mexico gross receipts tax.
- Stantec will develop three to five viable intake alternatives at about 15% design before advancing a board-selected option to 30% design.
- The target capacity is up to 20.8mgd, or 32.2cfs, subject to the project performance criteria and river conditions.
- The preliminary schedule runs from November 2026 to March 2028; final design, construction documents and construction-phase services are outside this phase.
Full report
Santa Fe’s Buckman Direct Diversion Board has moved to redesign its Rio Grande intake, approving a $2.19 million engineering contract with Stantec Consulting Services for alternatives analysis and 30% design work intended to reduce sediment and debris intrusion while improving the facility’s reliability and maintainability.
The board approved the selection committee’s recommendation to award RFP FY26-TRFQP-A&E-094 to Stantec, then approved the related professional-services agreement and a budget adjustment to use settlement funds for the expense. The agreement has a not-to-exceed value of $1,987,563.66 plus a $200,000 contingency, or $2,187,563.66 excluding applicable New Mexico gross receipts tax.
The work centres on the existing river intake and associated sediment-management facilities, which the scope says do not provide the reliability, sediment exclusion, access or maintainability required to consistently meet operational needs. High and variable sediment and turbidity in the Rio Grande can allow excessive sediment into the raw-water system, reduce diversion capability, increase maintenance and accelerate wear on downstream equipment.
Stantec is to develop concepts and conduct fatal-flaw screening before advancing three to five viable alternatives to approximately 15% design. Those options will be tested against hydraulic and sediment performance, diversion reliability, debris management, aquatic-species protection, constructability, permitting, operations and maintenance requirements, costs and risks. The board will select the preferred alternative following a multi-criteria decision analysis.
The selected option will then move to a coordinated 30% design. The work includes 1D and 2D hydraulic and sediment-transport modelling for alternative evaluation, followed by 3D computational fluid dynamics modelling of the preferred intake under base, median and high-flow conditions. The design must assess fish exclusion, sediment transport and sluicing, intake and pump-well configurations, construction phasing and the ability to maintain limited BDD operations during implementation.
The project is intended to support diversion of up to 20.8mgd, equivalent to 32.2cfs, under conditions defined in the eventual performance criteria. The design will also identify conditions in which diversions may have to be reduced or suspended.
The preliminary programme begins in November 2026 and runs through March 2028. It will conclude with a final 30% package, a basis-of-design report, an AACE Class 3 opinion of probable construction cost and an implementation schedule. Final design and construction services are not included.
The intake initiative follows a month of high river flows and turbidity. BDD reported average October raw-water diversions of 3.52mgd and finished-water deliveries of 3.49mgd, contributing 37% of combined City and County drinking-water supply. Staff said the facility was taken offline for several days after flows entered L.A. Canyon, pending testing.
This summary was generated by AI based on the source document and may contain errors.
Source: Buckman Direct Diversion Board, City of Santa Fe Water Division