From email from Southeastern Water (Chris Woodka):
October 7, 2026
A contract to repay the federal government for the Arkansas Valley Conduit (AVC) was signed Wednesday, October 7, 2026, by the Southeastern Colorado Water Conservancy District and the Bureau of Reclamation.
“This is an incredibly important day for the District, Reclamation and all of our constituents for the AVC,” said Bill Long, president of the District Board of Directors. “We still have a long way to go, but we are moving forward. This is an important milestone.”
Long held up one of the golden frying pans that were sold up and down the Arkansas Valley in the 1950s to raise money to promote the Fryingpan-Arkansas Project, an effort that eventually led to President John F. Kennedy signing the Fry-Ark Project legislation. The AVC is the final project element of that original Fry-Ark project legislation.
“Without the Arkansas Valley Conduit, the Valley will not be developed as it would have been otherwise. You cannot attract industry without a supply of clean water,” Long said.
Kevin Karney, chairman of the District’s AVC Committee, was an Otero County Commissioner when the AVC was relaunched in 2000. Karney was a member of the group searching for a way to provide better quality water for the Lower Arkansas Valley.
“The only solution that has risen to the top is the Arkansas Valley Conduit,” Karney said.
Reclamation and the District are building the AVC in a collaborative project, with Reclamation building the 130-mile trunk line from Pueblo to Lamar and the District building spur and delivery lines to connect 38 water systems to the trunk line. The total cost of the project is estimated to be $1.4 billion.
The AVC will provide water to 50,000 people served by cities, towns, water districts and private water companies.
Participants are required under federal law to pay 35 percent of the AVC’s cost. Any costs incurred by the District for construction of spur and delivery lines will be credited to the 35 percent repayment. The The remainder will be repaid with miscellaneous revenues generated from the Fryingpan-Arkansas Project (mainly from excess storage capacity contracts in Pueblo Reservoir).
The contract defines the responsibilities for design and construction, facilities ownership, and when the repayment period will start with substantial completion of the AVC. Reclamation will retain ownership of the trunk line and related facilities it is building, as well as the SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) System that will be used to operate the AVC. The District will construct and own the delivery lines, and any SCADA system implemented must comply with federal cybersecurity requirements.
The Contract reaffirms Pueblo Water’s role for conveyance of AVC water using capacity in its system in accordance with the conditions outlined in the 2022 Three-Party Contract between Reclamation, the District and Pueblo Water.
Provisions are included that would allow delivery of AVC water to participants before the AVC Project is completed. The Contract defines how costs for water delivered, supplies, and various services will be divided between the District and Reclamation prior to completion of construction.
When the AVC is substantially complete, responsibility for all OM&R costs will be transferred to the District. The District is developing a cost model in order to provide reliable estimates of operation, maintenance and replacement (OM&R) at partial and full capacity.
