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<br />VI. COMMITMENT TO FUTURE WATER USE EFFICIENCY <br />MEASURES <br /> <br />The Board of Water Works of Pueblo will continue to support its policy of the <br />"efficient use of water." The use of exchanges to supplement the Board's existing <br />water supply and the use of raw water for irrigation will both be expanded. <br /> <br />The Board has obtained several decrees for exchanges on the Arkansas River. With <br />these exchanges in place, the Board will be able to reuse all of its transmountain <br />water which returns to the Arkansas River at the city's wastewater treatment plant <br />and at the Rocky Mountain Steel Corporation's discharge point on the river. The <br />Board can also reclaim transmountain water which returns to the river after first <br />being used for lawn irrigation. This "reuse water" can be exchanged upstream for <br />storage in Pueblo Reservoir or other reservoirs in the Leadville area in which the <br />Board has storage rights. <br /> <br />The Board is investigating the use of gravel pit storage areas both upstream and <br />downstream from the City so that tran.smountain. return flows would not be lost in <br />the event that storage space is not available in Pueblo Reservoir or the upstream <br />reservoirs. <br /> <br />Additional use of raw water to irrigate golf courses, large city parks, athletic fields <br />and highway rights-of-way is being studied. Only one of the city's golf courses is <br />irrigated with raw water at the present time. Water for the City Park Golf course is <br />obtained from the Bessemer Irrigating Ditch Company. The use of this source may <br />be expanded or the Board may take raw water from its own north side intake for <br />irrigation use. Another option might be to use well water to irrigate large public <br />use areas and then replace the consumptive use from each well with some of the <br />Board's existing water rights or transmountain return flows. <br /> <br />As irrigation use at the city's airport industrial park increases, a raw water supply <br />that can be used by industry and for irrigation will be developed. The engineering <br />study for this project has already been completed. <br /> <br />The Board will continue to investigate methods for using Fountain Creek water for <br />irrigation purposes. The Board studied the use of Fountain Creek water for <br />irrigation on the Walking Stick golf course several years ago. It was not feasible at <br />that time, but circumstances may change and other studies will be made in the <br />future. <br /> <br />The Board started an aggressive water main replacement program in 1968. The <br />purpose of this program was to replace all of the old water mains in the city where <br />there was a record of frequent breaks or rusty water complaints. This program has <br />continued over the past 15 years and has really made a difference in the frequency <br /> <br />-19- <br />