| 6/20/2006 8:50:00 AM | Email this article • Print this article | Elephant Rock Dam site still possible according to engineer
by Jason Starr
Mail Staff Writer
A new water court application from Colorado Springs Utilities renews the possibility of a dam on the Arkansas River, Chaffee County Commissioners learned Monday.
Colorado Springs engineer Brett Gracely spoke to commissioners during their work session Monday.
Gracely said the project north of Buena Vista known as Elephant Rock Dam or Mt Princeton Dam remains a backup plan if other options for delivering water to the growing population of Colorado Springs fall through.
“It’s a backup plan if all else fails,” Gracely told commissioners. “It’s a last resort.”
The idea for Elephant Rock Dam, about three miles north of Buena Vista, or Mt. Princeton Dam, near the confluence of Pine Creek with the Arkansas River about 12 miles north of Buena Vista, first surfaced in a 1990 water court application.
With that application still pending, Colorado Springs filed another in December involving leasing agricultural water that named Elephant Rock or Mt. Princeton dam as storage spots.
There are about 20 objectors in the 1990 case and many will likely file objections to the December application (case number: 05CW095).
Gracely stressed the two dams aren’t first options of the Front Range city to meet water demand. The applications will be abandoned if primary options are approved, he said.
The primary options include the “southern delivery system” and the “preferred storage option plan.”
The southern delivery system has been studied since 1996. It proposes taking Colorado Springs-owned water from Pueblo Reservoir to the city via a 43-mile pipeline.
The proposal is the subject of an environmental impact statement, which should be complete by 2007. If the project is approved, it likely won’t be operational until 2012, Gracely said.
A second phase of the project, involving construction of two reservoirs, would not be finished until 2030. Total cost would be more than $1 billion.
The preferred storage option plan is another primary option for Colorado Springs as it prepares for future demand.
The plan calls for expanding Pueblo Reservoir and Turquoise Lake in Lake County, but it has not yet been approved by Congress for a feasibility study.
“We’d rather do these other things if we can get them done,” Gracely said. “But if we can’t get them done, we still have customers to serve and we’ll keep (the Elephant Rock) applications.”
Gracely predicts water demand in Colorado Springs will double by 2040 to nearly 200 million gallons per day. The city continues to educate citizens about conservation and increasing use of nonpotable water in agricultural and industrial sectors, Gracely said.
In other business, commissioners:
• Heard a report from representatives of the Colorado Workforce Center.
• Considered changes to the board of adjustment and board of review.
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