From The Pueblo Chieftain (Chris Woodka):
With Southern Delivery System nearing completion, Colorado Springs is going to work on a plan to provide water for the next 50 years.
“There is a lot of uncertainty in the West when it comes to water,” Leon Basdekas, project manager for Colorado Springs Utilities integrated water planning, told the Fountain Creek Watershed Flood Control and Greenway District board Friday.
Utilities’ last water plan was in 1996 and focused almost entirely on supply. It provided options about how to develop water rights that Colorado Springs obtained in the Arkansas Valley during the 1980s. Among the options were direct reuse, reservoirs and pipelines. The water plan eventually led to SDS, a $940 million pipeline from Pueblo Dam to Colorado Springs that will be completed by 2016. Those types of options still will be considered.
“Everything is on the table,” Basdekas said.
But the new plan also will look at demand, water quality, infrastructure, energy, regulation, legal issues and public opinion, he added. The goal is to develop a sustainable future supply that also respects social values, Basdekas said.
Among the biggest challenge is managing risk during climate change. Severe drought in 2012-13 was only one indication of how future water supplies could be affected.
At the same time, Colorado Springs is looking for as much public input as possible as it begins looking at the next 50 years.
“We need public involvement, so we just don’t go into a dark room and come out with a plan,” he said.
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