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Santa Fe County Commissioner Harry Montoya invites County residents to a community meeting discussing the release of the preliminary engineering report on a Sombrillo wastewater system.  The meeting is on Tuesday, March 24, 2009 at 6:00pm at the Hands Across Cultures Teen Center, #89 La Puebla Road in La Puebla.
 
Sombrillo Wastewater System
 
The much-anticipated preliminary engineering report (PER) that Santa Fe County originated has been completed and details various approaches to establishing a wastewater system for the residents in the Sombrillo area of Northern Santa Fe County.  The County utilities staff will be utilizing this
report along with the input from the citizens who will be served by an eventual system to ultimately determine what type of system would best serve the needs of this community.
 
Gathering the input from the residents is a very important and crucial part of the process and the participation of the area residents is strongly encouraged at the soon to be scheduled meeting.  Santa Fe County wants to make sure and address the wastewater issue for the residents in the Sombrillo community and by having the information contained in the PER gathered, a solution to this issue is now one step closer to being achieved.
 
A preliminary engineering report is a prerequisite for a public project that is anticipated to be constructed with public funds.  In order to be considered to receive most public funds whether that be from state or federal funding sources a PER must be completed so that it can be shown that a possible project is technically feasible.  The location of the Sombrillo community is at a unique location within Santa Fe County that brings into play many possible governments and jurisdictions who may be involved in serving this community’s wastewater needs.  For this reason a PER was also needed to gather a full look at the various options associated with the multiple governmental jurisdictions.  Ensuring that the best possible technical solution is chosen while utilizing the cooperation of the surrounding jurisdictions will also help in obtaining funding and support for funding for this wastewater solution.  Having the input and the support of the community and surrounding jurisdictions thus far has allowed this first step to be achieved in a timely manner with positive results.