The Arkansas Valley Conduit, a plan to provide water to communities on the lower Arkansas River, can work even without approval of the Preferred Options Storage Plan, reports the Pueblo Chieftain. From the article, "There is ample storage space available in Lake Pueblo for a proposed drinking water conduit for communities east of Pueblo without enlarging Pueblo Dam or modifying its operations.
"The storage has been envisioned almost since the completion of Pueblo Dam, the Lower Arkansas Valley Water Conservancy District learned Wednesday...
"The Arkansas Valley Conduit is a $300 million project to supply drinking water for up to 42 communities via a pipeline from Pueblo Dam...
"Tom Musgrove, local manager for the Bureau of Reclamation, told the Lower Ark board Wednesday that 37,400 acre-feet of storage is set aside for communities east of Pueblo under the 1979 allocation principles.
"That number represents Fryingpan-Arkansas storage space, but could also accommodate long-term excess-capacity leases, Musgrove said.
"The Pueblo Board of Water Works already is storing water under a 25-year excess-capacity lease and Colorado Springs has applied for a 40-year lease at Lake Pueblo.
"The 1979 principles - adopted by the Southeastern Colorado Water Conservancy District and later decreed in Division 2 water court - determine how Fry-Ark water is allocated.
"The project yields an average of 52,000 acre-feet annually, almost all of it imported from Hunter-Fryingpan drainage above Aspen, Musgrove said.
"Agriculture gets 49 percent; Colorado Springs and other Fountain Valley cities, 25 percent; Pueblo, 10 percent; cities east of Pueblo, 12 percent; and cities west of Pueblo, 4 percent.
"In addition, the cities are entitled to 159,000 acre-feet of storage set aside for cities in Lake Pueblo, with the space allocation based on similar percentages."
Category: Colorado Water
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