From the La Junta Tribune Democrat (Dave Vickers):
Nearly all of the 27 entities that provide water to Otero County residents heard [at a meeting at Otero Junior College Tuesday night] Bill Hancock from Lower Arkansas Valley Water Conservancy District and Gary Barber from Pikes Peak Regional Water Authority explain the potential benefits of forming a rural water authority.
Barber said he and Hancock have been working for the past six months to identify problems rural water providers currently face and are expect to encounter in coming years. They have also begun to identify solutions to those various problems, of which compliance with federal Safe Drinking Water Act standards will be paramount in the future and could pose tremendous financial burdens on the water providers, especially the smaller companies that have as few as 20 customers. “Please join us in making this happen,” Barber said, noting that if water providers in Southeastern Colorado move quickly to address the proposal with their separate boards of directors, formation of the quasi-governmental authority could begin as soon as next fall. Barber said the greatest benefit a rural water authority could bring to the region would be the ability to gain access to grants and loans that would help solve the myriad problems water providers face today. Nearly all water providers aren’t eligible to apply for such funding currently because of their status as private, for-profit companies.