During a visit to Pueblo today, Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner Camille Calimlim Touton announced the Arkansas Valley Conduit Project will receive $250 million in federal funding.
The project consists of more than 120 miles of pipeline to deliver up to 7,500 acre-feet of water per year from Pueblo Reservoir to communities in Southeastern Colorado, where groundwater sources are contaminated with naturally occurring radionuclides and do not meet drinking-water standards.
The Arkansas Valley Conduit was approved as part of the 60-year-old Fryingpan-Arkansas Project to address these water-quality issues, but a lack of congressional funding caused the conduit to languish for decades.
Significant funding for the water pipeline began to be allocated following passage of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, also known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, in 2021, and a U.S. Department of Interior press release issued today the says the project “previously received almost $340 million.”
“The additional funding brings the total federal investment in the AVC to almost $590 million since 2020, along with state funding guarantees of $90 million in loans and $30 million in grants,” according to a press release from the Southeastern Colorado Water Conservancy District, which was created to develop and administer the Fryingpan-Arkansas Project.
“After 25 years, I still almost can’t believe it’s happening, but I drive by and can see it with my own eyes,” Southeastern Water Conservancy District President Bill Long told Commissioner Touton. “There are so many people who have worked so hard who would be so proud to see it being built. This money will get us to the area that has seen the most problems.”
This latest round of funding for the water pipeline is part of $514 million approved for water projects investment as part of President Joseph Biden’s Investing in America agenda.
“We are proud to see the work underway because of President Biden’s Investing in America agenda,” Commissioner Touton said. “But there’s much more work to be done and we are again investing in this important project to bring safe drinking water to an estimated 50,000 people in 39 rural communities along the Arkansas River.”
According to the Interior Department press release, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation is investing a total of $8.3 billion of Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funding for water infrastructure projects, including rural water, water storage, conservation and conveyance, nature-based solutions, dam safety, water purification and reuse, and desalination.
Featured photo: Upon completion of the Fryingpan-Arkansas Project’s Arkansas Valley Conduit, clean water from Pueblo Reservoir will be piped to communities in Southeastern Colorado where current drinking water sources are contaminated with naturally occurring radionuclides like uranium and radium.
