Bringing in Water and Water from Waste

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the gazette COLORADO SPRINGS WA NY, MgY.18, NO WATER FROM WASTE Water�� fore the dryness came and will still be looming when rain and snow once again fill city reser- voirs. But the drought has high- lighted how precious and finite fresh water is to a town that has no natural source, which must use gravity, pumps, pipes and lots of money to bring its water from the high country. The drought, with the talk of water restrictions and rate in- creases, has made it obvious fresh water is liquid in all senses — prone to slipping through our fin- gers and running downhill. City officials reckon they can Ian faces From Al will see a fundamental change in the delivery, quali- ty and cost of their water. We will be drinking our own wastewater. It will be treated, at a high cost, to make it safe, but the water will no longer taste like a clear mountain stream. We will be bathing in water brought up from deep underground, from aquifers beneath us that recharge so slowly many experts consider them nonrenewable resourc- es. We will be washing our clothes with water bought from agricultural users, water colored by the econom- ic and social implications its transfer will have on farm and ranch communities. It's all likely to cost a pret- ty penny. Experts predict water will be priced high enough to hurt, high enough to change the way we use it and the kind of landscaping we lavish it upon. That future could be a lot closer than 2040, though, if the city doesn't win politi- cians' permission to solve a conundrum bedeviling the city. Colorado Springs owns a lot of water, almost double what we now use, enough to keep us from drinking our neighbors' bathing water for the next 38 years. But it doesn't have the plumbing to deliver it. The city is able to deliver 82 million gallons of water a day, l million gallons less than the average daily de- mand and far less than the 124 million gallons used each day in June. The city has been drawing down its storage reservoirs to meet that excess demand, but the drought has reduced the water in those reservoirs to worrisome levels. To free additional water, the city needs to build a $730 million plumbing project and quickly. The Southern Delivery Sys- tem would feature an expand- ed Pueblo Reservoir to store water from the mountains, a pipeline to deliver the water to Colorado Springs, a reser- voir to store it and a water plant to treat it. But the project hinges on permission to expand Pueblo Reservoir and store water there from various sources, something the city is not al- lowed to do now. House Resolution 3881 would give the project the go- ahead, but it is languishing in the U.S. House of Represen- tatives. cup their hands for 38 more years, bringing fresh water to the Springs using water rights and transmountain diversion systems established over decades. But by 2040, they estimate, resi- dents and businesses will be using more water than the city owns. Even if more water rights in the headwaters could be bought, most water experts say the days of large transmountain diversion projects, with their eco- nomic, environmental and politi- cal costs, are over. Colorado Springs residents See WATER Al2 Opposition to the plan has arisen from the city of Pueblo and some Arkansas Valley residents. That opposition has spooked two key Republi- can can lawmakers, U.S. Rep. Scott McInnis and U.S. Sen. Wayne Allard, neither of whom has been willing to en- dorse the legislation. Phil Tollefson, director of Colorado Springs Utilities and the man charged with bringing extra water to the city, said HR3881 is too cru- cial to allow it to fail. He said this week the city expects to find a way to win the permis- sion needed to build the water delivery system. If it doesn't, he said the city will have to consider moving up plans to use treat- ed wastewater as drinking water, tap groundwater and buy agricultural water rights.' The city might have to re- vive its plan to build a dam north of Buena Vista to cap- ture water the city owns, a plan shelved in the 1990s in the face of political and envi- ronmental opposition. Tollefson suspects local residents have given little thought to the consequences — many unpalatable — that flow from their 15- minute showers and green lawns.. "My general sense is that an awful lot of people are plac, ing blind trust in government and in agencies like'ours to do the right things," he said. "But they don't understand how terribly difficult and challenging it is. Everybody wants everything, and they want it for free." Colorado Springs City Councilman Richard Skor- man said it's time to have a community discussion about, the ways we use water and how much we pay for it. "We have a responsibility here," he said. "We are lucky to get the water first, before it's treated 180 times before it reaches the Gulf of Mexico. I think we have a responsibility not to waste it." Skorman said the vast ex- panses of Kentucky bluegrass blanketing the city and the carpets of sod continuing to be laid down by developers are unsustainable in a semi- arid climate. He said it might be time to enact a residential landscape ordinance that would offer in- centives for planting vegeta- tion appropriate for the local climate. He said it's time to consider disincentives, in the form of higher water rates, perhaps based on the amount homeowners use, a system in place for commercial users, the largest group of water users. "We've gotten spoiled. We don't make the right choices,'.' he said. "It's a good time dur- ing a drought to think what it means to turn our faucets on. It's a good time to ask the com- munity whether it wants its rates increased, whether we want to drink recycled water, whether we want to impact farm communities so we can have green lawns for six months of the year. "We are robbing precious resources from our children." Bill McKeown covers general assign- ments and may be reached at 636-0197 or mckeown @gazette.com Springs K opposition By Bill McKeown The Gazette It may be us. It's probably our children. It will most definitely be our childrpn's children. Someday, DRY sooner or later, residents of Colo - - - - rado Springs will be drinking TIMES their own wastewater — and pay - 2002 ing dearly for the privilege. That future, long a reality in many cities but a sobering pros - More coverage on pect for a town that has enjoyed a 'the drought and century of sweet water direct those who fight from the mountains, is not the re- sult of the three -year drought wildfires. parching Colorado. A13, Metro 1 That future was ordained be- Water�� fore the dryness came and will still be looming when rain and snow once again fill city reser- voirs. But the drought has high- lighted how precious and finite fresh water is to a town that has no natural source, which must use gravity, pumps, pipes and lots of money to bring its water from the high country. The drought, with the talk of water restrictions and rate in- creases, has made it obvious fresh water is liquid in all senses — prone to slipping through our fin- gers and running downhill. City officials reckon they can Ian faces From Al will see a fundamental change in the delivery, quali- ty and cost of their water. We will be drinking our own wastewater. It will be treated, at a high cost, to make it safe, but the water will no longer taste like a clear mountain stream. We will be bathing in water brought up from deep underground, from aquifers beneath us that recharge so slowly many experts consider them nonrenewable resourc- es. We will be washing our clothes with water bought from agricultural users, water colored by the econom- ic and social implications its transfer will have on farm and ranch communities. It's all likely to cost a pret- ty penny. Experts predict water will be priced high enough to hurt, high enough to change the way we use it and the kind of landscaping we lavish it upon. That future could be a lot closer than 2040, though, if the city doesn't win politi- cians' permission to solve a conundrum bedeviling the city. Colorado Springs owns a lot of water, almost double what we now use, enough to keep us from drinking our neighbors' bathing water for the next 38 years. But it doesn't have the plumbing to deliver it. The city is able to deliver 82 million gallons of water a day, l million gallons less than the average daily de- mand and far less than the 124 million gallons used each day in June. The city has been drawing down its storage reservoirs to meet that excess demand, but the drought has reduced the water in those reservoirs to worrisome levels. To free additional water, the city needs to build a $730 million plumbing project and quickly. The Southern Delivery Sys- tem would feature an expand- ed Pueblo Reservoir to store water from the mountains, a pipeline to deliver the water to Colorado Springs, a reser- voir to store it and a water plant to treat it. But the project hinges on permission to expand Pueblo Reservoir and store water there from various sources, something the city is not al- lowed to do now. House Resolution 3881 would give the project the go- ahead, but it is languishing in the U.S. House of Represen- tatives. cup their hands for 38 more years, bringing fresh water to the Springs using water rights and transmountain diversion systems established over decades. But by 2040, they estimate, resi- dents and businesses will be using more water than the city owns. Even if more water rights in the headwaters could be bought, most water experts say the days of large transmountain diversion projects, with their eco- nomic, environmental and politi- cal costs, are over. Colorado Springs residents See WATER Al2 Opposition to the plan has arisen from the city of Pueblo and some Arkansas Valley residents. That opposition has spooked two key Republi- can can lawmakers, U.S. Rep. Scott McInnis and U.S. Sen. Wayne Allard, neither of whom has been willing to en- dorse the legislation. Phil Tollefson, director of Colorado Springs Utilities and the man charged with bringing extra water to the city, said HR3881 is too cru- cial to allow it to fail. He said this week the city expects to find a way to win the permis- sion needed to build the water delivery system. If it doesn't, he said the city will have to consider moving up plans to use treat- ed wastewater as drinking water, tap groundwater and buy agricultural water rights.' The city might have to re- vive its plan to build a dam north of Buena Vista to cap- ture water the city owns, a plan shelved in the 1990s in the face of political and envi- ronmental opposition. Tollefson suspects local residents have given little thought to the consequences — many unpalatable — that flow from their 15- minute showers and green lawns.. "My general sense is that an awful lot of people are plac, ing blind trust in government and in agencies like'ours to do the right things," he said. "But they don't understand how terribly difficult and challenging it is. Everybody wants everything, and they want it for free." Colorado Springs City Councilman Richard Skor- man said it's time to have a community discussion about, the ways we use water and how much we pay for it. "We have a responsibility here," he said. "We are lucky to get the water first, before it's treated 180 times before it reaches the Gulf of Mexico. I think we have a responsibility not to waste it." Skorman said the vast ex- panses of Kentucky bluegrass blanketing the city and the carpets of sod continuing to be laid down by developers are unsustainable in a semi- arid climate. He said it might be time to enact a residential landscape ordinance that would offer in- centives for planting vegeta- tion appropriate for the local climate. He said it's time to consider disincentives, in the form of higher water rates, perhaps based on the amount homeowners use, a system in place for commercial users, the largest group of water users. "We've gotten spoiled. We don't make the right choices,'.' he said. "It's a good time dur- ing a drought to think what it means to turn our faucets on. It's a good time to ask the com- munity whether it wants its rates increased, whether we want to drink recycled water, whether we want to impact farm communities so we can have green lawns for six months of the year. "We are robbing precious resources from our children." Bill McKeown covers general assign- ments and may be reached at 636-0197 or mckeown @gazette.com Springs K opposition