Description

The Arkansas Valley Conduit (AVC) is a 130-mile pipeline with spurs that would serve as many as 40 communities and 50,000 people east of Pueblo. It will deliver filtered water ready for treatment from Pueblo Reservoir. The AVC will supplement existing water supplies, which face state compliance issues because of salinity or radionuclide contamination. Most of the participants rely on groundwater, and are in need of a reliable supply of fresh water.

History

The cities of the Lower Arkansas Valley in Colorado have awaited the construction of the AVC for decades. The AVC was authorized by Congress as part of the Fryingpan-Arkansas Project in 1962. It never was built largely because of the inability of participants to repay construction costs. In 2009, Congress amended the original Fry-Ark legislation. The amendment featured a cost-sharing plan with 65 percent federal and 35 percent local funding. The locally funded portion will be repaid by the Southeastern Colorado Water Conservancy District (District) to the federal government over a period of 50 years. 

Milestones

2009 – P.L. 111-11 passed, allowing miscellaneous revenues (excess-capacity contract payments) from the Fryingpan-Arkansas Project to be applied to AVC construction and repayment. These payments will be available beginning in 2022 and initially total about $3 million annually, increasing in future years as contract payments rise. 

2013—Regional Water Conservation Plan in Support of Arkansas Valley Conduit and Related Projects completed by the District.                                         

2013 – The Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation) completed a Final Environmental Impact Statement for the AVC.’

2014 – Reclamation issued a Record of Decision for the AVC, which established a route (Comanche North) and scope of work for the project. 

2017 – Reclamation completes Feasibility Design Report for AVC

New Concept

In 2017, the District, Reclamation and Pueblo Water began discussions about a plan that would reduce the time needed to build the AVC, the “New Concept.”

The New Concept is a phased approach that would use excess capacity in Pueblo Water’s system to deliver water to the AVC. The Comanche North proposal include the Joint Use Pipeline and excess capacity at the Whitlock Water Treatment Plant. The New Concept expands on this idea by taking water at the eastern edge of Pueblo Water’s system and connecting with the AVC alignment. 

Reclamation, the District and Pueblo Water are evaluating the New Concept under a Memorandum of Understanding that does not necessarily commit them to this course of action.

Click Here for the Final Enviormental Impact Statement

For more information: United States Bureau of Reclamation