From The Pueblo Chieftain (Chris Woodka):
Colorado Springs Utilities water attorney David Robbins took pains to explain that excess capacity in the North Outlet Works, pumping station and pipeline would be different than the concept currently used by Reclamation. “We need to be clear that there are plans on the part of several SDS participants to serve others through the project,” Robbins said.
In fact, contracts being sought by Colorado Springs, Security, Fountain and Pueblo West would use excess capacity of the Fryingpan-Arkansas Project in Lake Pueblo. Colorado Springs wants to apply the same concept to the North Outlet Works, which it would build at its own expense and deed to the Bureau of Reclamation. While a maximum of 96 million gallons a day could be diverted through the new structure Colorado Springs intends to build at the base of Pueblo Dam, not all of it would be needed immediately, and over time the full amount would not be needed every day. Of the capacity, up to 78 million gallons daily would go to El Paso County, and up to 18 million gallons daily to Pueblo West. Colorado Springs City Council has discussed the possibility of allowing El Paso County water users other than Security and Fountain to use the pipeline, but would stay within the 78 million gallon per day limit, Fredell said.
Colorado Springs also wants to build a pipeline from the dam to its connection with Pueblo West’s intake larger than it needs to be to serve the needs of SDS. During negotiations, Colorado Springs revealed it intends to recoup costs for building the North Outlet Works by selling the excess capacity for hydroelectric projects or future connections to the line. The first portion of the pipeline would be 90 inches in diameter, narrowing to 66 inches in diameter as it heads north through Pueblo West. Only about 25 percent of the maximum capacity would be used, said Keith Riley, SDS project manager. The cost for that part of SDS would be about $30 million. “It would be a multiuse pipeline with the potential for others to tie on,” Riley said. “The SDS participants wouldrecapture revenue from it.”[…]
Colorado Springs also asked for changes in the contract that would allow it to use water from any source, rather than just native Arkansas River flows as the contract originally stated. Fredell said water from any source could be used in the pipeline, and those uses might be for augmentation as well as municipal needs. Reclamation officials asked Colorado Springs to review all of the water rights that would be used in SDS at the next negotiating session to verify what was studied in the EIS.