From The Pueblo Chieftain (Chris Woodka):
The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation kicked off a week of meetings dealing with the Arkansas Valley Conduit and a master storage contract sought by the Southeastern Colorado Water Conservancy District. “Most of the impacts are below Pueblo Reservoir, but storage in Pueblo benefits us because we can release water for downstream calls,” said Terry Scanga, general manager of the Upper Arkansas Water Conservancy District. “Where the excess-capacity contract will help is if we have to spill Twin Lakes water and store it in Pueblo.”[…]
[Salida City Councilman Jay Moore] said Salida’s interest in an excess-capacity contract is to strengthen an already diverse water portfolio. “The main thing is that we can have an absolute surplus by storing water in Lake Pueblo and releasing it when needed,” Moore said.
Greg Smith, public works director for Poncha Springs, agreed.
“It’s a way for us to acquire and maintain additional storage,” Smith said…At Monday’s open house, Signe Snortland, environmental specialist for Reclamation, clarified that only one Environmental Impact Statement and record of decision will be issued for the conduit and the master contract.