subject

ARKANSAS RIVER

SOU

TH P

LATT

E RI

VER

BLU

E R

IVE

R

FRYINGPAN RIVER

Twin LakeReservoir

Homestake Reservoir

TurquoiseLake

Clear Creek Reservoir

Otero intake pipeline

EAGLE RIVER

Montgomery Reservoir

THE CONTINENTAL DIVIDE

Otero pumping station

Dividepumping station

Fountain Creek

Monument Creek

North slope reservoirs

South slope reservoirs

Pueblo Reservoir

25

70

Rampart Reservoir

Pine Valley and McCullough water treatment plants

Ute Pass water treatment plants

Mesa water treatment plants

Las Vegas wastewater treatment plants

Fountain Valley water treatment plants

Upper Homestake pipeline

Blue River pipeline

Lower Homestake pipeline

MIDDLE FORK SOUTH

PLATTE RIVER

SOUTH ARKANSAS RIVER

32

4

1

DENVER

COLORADO SPRINGS

PUEBLO

Proposed Williams Creek reservoir

Pikes Peak

HOMESTAKECOLLECTIONSYSTEM

FRY-ARKCOLLECTIONSYSTEM

TWIN LAKESCOLLECTIONSYSTEM

LOCALCOLLECTIONSYSTEM

Fountain Valley Authority pipeline

5

Preferred route of the Southern Delivery System

Proposed Regional Wastewater Plant

Proposed Upper Williams Creek Reservoir

SALIDA

LEADVILLE

CAÑON CITY

Colorado Springs doesn’t lack water; it has a plumbing problem. The city consumed an average 75 million gallons a day in 2008; 130 million a day in June 2008. The city’s pipelines, which bring in water from Pikes Peak and several other drainages, can deliver 82 million gallons a day. In winter, the city’s thirst for water is low enough that its mountain reservoirs can be replenished. In summer, water demand runs high, and the reservoirs are drawn down. The city has rights to more than twice the 93,000 acre-feet it now uses each year, but the current pipeline system can’t handle any more. An acre-foot of water equals about 326,000 gallons. The difficulty has always been getting it here.

The city began to assemble its supply system in the late 1800s. Now there are 10 reservoirs in the Pikes Peak watershed, which provides about 20 percent of the city’s

needs.

In 1953, the Blue River pipeline began delivering water to Colorado Springs, taking water from the high country above Breckenridge. The pipeline was the

city’s first transmountain project, taking water that otherwise would flow into the Colorado River, and ultimately the Pacific Ocean.

In 1967, the Homestake pipeline opened. The Homestake project diverts water from the Holy Cross Wilderness south of Vail and funnels it

through a pipeline that feeds Turquoise Lake near Leadville.

In 1985, the Fountain Valley pipeline began delivering water to Fountain, Security, Widefield and Colorado Springs. A

piece of the Fryingpan-Arkansas project built in conjunction with the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, the

pipeline draws water from Pueblo Reservoir.

To accommodate expected population growth, and provide redundancy in

the sprawling water system, Utilities hopes to build the Southern Delivery System, a water pipeline from Pueblo Reservoir. The $1.1 billion pipeline would bring 78 million gallons a day to a new reservoir

east of Colorado Springs. Pueblo County commissioners gave

tentative approval earlier this month, and Colorado Springs City Council will decide in

April whether to move forward under the conditions Pueblo attached to the project. Officials have said they

hope to begin construction this year. It will be the most expensive project ever undertaken by Utilities.

VAIL

5

In 14

In 13

In 12

1

A city’s waterworks

THE GAZETTE

A8 ❘ the gazette ❘ Saturday, april 4, 2009