From The Pueblo Chieftain (Chris Woodka):
The district is wrapping up a study of the [Arkansas Valley Conduit] alignment, technical evaluations, environmental reviews, permit scoping and water supply evaluation that began last year under an Environmental Protection Agency grant. That work should be wrapped up in August and will allow the district to move into the more formal environmental impact statement required for the conduit under the National Environmental Policy Act.
At the same time, the district will begin working on a long-term contract for excess-capacity storage at Lake Pueblo that includes both conduit users and suppliers elsewhere in the Southeastern district. The contract essentially is the reoperations portion of the former Preferred Storage Options Plan, although the amount of storage requested and the parties requesting it have changed. “This study is allowing us to be ahead in working on the conduit,” Executive Director Jim Broderick told the Southeastern board Thursday. “We still have to look at the gap between the water now available and the amount of water needed in the future.”
More Arkansas Basin coverage here.