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., <br />The Pueblo Chieftain Online <br />Analysis <br />Pueblo's flow agreements aren't much <br />insurance <br />By TOM McAVOY <br />THE PUEBLO CHIEFTAIN <br />Page 1 of 3 <br />Pueblo - or at least a 4 -3 majority of the City Council - has placed great faith in <br />agreements with Colorado Springs, Aurora and others promising to maintain <br />minimum flows in the Arkansas River to provide water for a kayak boating <br />course. <br />Nothing is guaranteed for more than five years, however, and the promises can <br />go away unless the other cities also benefit by: <br />Colorado Springs making progress toward getting its ambitious Southern <br />Delivery System, a 66 -inch, 43- mile -long pipeline to transfer 75,000 acre -feet <br />of water a year to serve Fountain Valley utility customers. (An acre -foot is <br />325,851 gallons, enough water to serve up to two families for a year.) <br />Aurora landing long -term storage of Arkansas River Basin water, starting with <br />10,000 acre -feet, in Lake Pueblo. <br />Reports on the intergovernmental agreements, or IGAs, adopted March 1 and <br />May 27 have focused almost entirely on pledges of mutual cooperation. That is, <br />the other cities would drop opposition to Pueblo's recreational water right if <br />Pueblo, in turn, would support the Colorado Springs pipeline and Aurora <br />reservoir storage. <br />That doesn't come close to telling the whole story, though. <br />Pueblo's support isn't nearly enough. The recreational flow agreements would <br />expire after five years if: <br />1). Colorado Springs no longer is pursuing the Southern Delivery System, which <br />it might be compelled to drop if the project doesn't get U.S. Bureau of <br />Reclamation approval and a Pueblo County land -use permit to build the <br />pipeline. <br />2). Aurora doesn't get Lake Pueblo storage space through either a Bureau of <br />Reclamation contract or congressional passage of PSOP - Preferred Storage <br />Option Plan - legislation. <br />A PSOP bill, sponsored by U.S. Rep. Joel Hefley, a Colorado Springs Republican, <br />is being pushed by the Southeastern Colorado Water Conservancy District. It <br />http: / /www. chieftain. com /print.php ?article= /metro/1093633446/5 8/27/2004 <br />