Communities along the Arkansas River, from immediately east of Pueblo to Lamar (130 miles), will benefit from federal legislation that would reduce the cost of a pipeline delivering potable-quality water to more than 50,000 people in 39 communities along an otherwise toxic mineral route.
It is a Bureau of Reclamation project approved in 1962 that has soared to a $1.3 billion cost. Thanks to the initiative of Rep. Lauren Boebert and Rep. Jeff Hurd, whose districts include communities the pipeline will serve, construction repayment terms are being extended, and many required interest rates are being eliminated. No additional funding is included, but the significantly reduced repayment terms will provide momentum to move initial sections forward.
The bill, which originated in the House, passed the Senate on Tuesday by unanimous consent and now heads to President Trump's desk. There is every reason for him to sign it.
In the Senate, Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper have been advocates for the project and the more favorable repayment terms. Still, it’s Boebert and Hurd – Republicans in a Republican-majority House – making this possible. Last year, when the bill originated in the Senate with Bennet and Hickenlooper as sponsors, it died in the Republican-controlled House. This year, a bill starting in the House with Republican sponsorship changed everything.
The pipeline is part of the Fryingpan-Arkansas Project, which brings water under the Continental Divide (below Ruedi Reservoir, fed by the Fryingpan River, both north of Aspen) from the Western Slope into Pueblo Reservoir. Dating to John F. Kennedy’s presidency, the project was designed to provide Colorado water storage and delivery to balance federal funding for similar projects in Arizona, Nevada and California. Kennedy came to Pueblo in 1962 to launch the project and promise the Arkansas Valley Conduit.
Saline water and various metals in the geology along the Arkansas River have made aquifer water undrinkable, and either osmosis or water hauling has been the norm for decades.
So far, $613 million of the necessary $1.3 billion has been secured. The Bureau of Reclamation will handle the 120-mile trunk line, while Pueblo-based Southeastern Colorado Water Conservancy District will build spur lines to participating communities.
Party politics can deliver good results. Thanks to Reps. Lauren Boebert and Jeff Hurd for working to secure that most critical commodity: water
