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Natural Gas becomes available to more Las Cruces residents

 The snow from the previous day didn’t slow Las Cruces Utilities (LCU) in the mission to provide access to inexpensive natural gas to approximately 1,000 residential parcels on the southeast side of Las Cruces. In fact, it was slightly warm down in the deep trench where a new low pressure gas line is being built to pipe gas to the Talavera subdivision, located between the Organ Mountains and A Mountain.

LCU is in the middle of a multi-phase $6.2 million project, which will be a boon to Las Cruces residents living in the Talavera area. Once they connect to natural gas, they will see reduced costs in the fuel they use to cook, heat water, and heat homes. “Residents can see a savings of nearly $800 every year for an average size home of around 1,600 square feet,” said Carl Clark, LCU Regulatory Environmental Services & Technical Support administrator. “It depends on the number of appliances residents convert from propane to natural gas.”

Dan Norris, LCU Gas systems inspector, observes the contractors laying the pipeline, and explains, “All workers installing the Gas Main are trained and ‘Operator Qualified’ by the City Gas and Compliance subsection.” It’s not only digging and laying a pipe in the ground, Norris adds, it’s taking great care with how it’s installed: “The gas main has 4-feet of cover or more. We trench through the ground, removing rocks and dirt, and then put in 6-inches of fine dirt without rocks, then lay in the pipe, then another foot of a rock-free dirt. It’s all about protecting the pipe,” he says. At the same time, Norris conducts continual pressure checks on the lines already in place to ensure the stability of the entire system.

The Phase 1 installation of the 4-inch and 2-inch low pressure polyethylene (PE) natural gas main is near completion. Phase II construction is installation of an 8-inch steel high pressure gas line and 4-inch PE low pressure gas line along Dripping Springs Road; and Phase III (final) is installation of the remaining low pressure gas line and service lines to the residences in Talavera.

Submitted by Las Cruces Utilities at 528-3500 from 8 a.m. - 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. Las Cruces Utilities provides GAS – WATER – WASTEWATER – SOLID WASTE services to approximately 100,000 Las Cruces residents and businesses.