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The town is not running out of water, but it is important to be prudent about the amounts used because, at some point, it will become economically unfeasible to pump the water out of the ground, said Mayor Byron Glenn at the board of trustee meeting Aug. 7.
“If we can’t solve this groundwater problem, we’re going to be out of water,” said Pikes Peak Regional Water Authority Manager Gary Barber. He added, the area is in need of a solution that will involve connecting with a river, which is unfortunate given the fact Monument is about as far away from a river as any other area in Colorado.
Monument, which presently gets its water from aquifers, has been looking for a sustainable water supply, for which there are several options, said Director of Public Works Rich Landreth.
“[Finding a renewable water supply] is something we need to start on now for the future,” he said.
The town is a member of the Pikes Peak Regional Water Authority, an organization created to look at conservation, efficiency and renewable water for authority members. Other members include Palmer Lake, Triview Metropolitan District, Woodmoor Water and Sanitation District, Donala Water and Sanitation District, the city of Fountain and Cherokee Metropolitan District.
Together, the entities have been discussing options for attaining and storing water from a renewable source. Their efforts have given the water purveyors several possibilities.
The authority has managed to create memorandums of understanding with Brush Hollow Reservoir, located northwest of Penrose, and Stonewall Springs, located east of Pueblo, for possible future storage plans, Barber said.
In the authority’s water infrastructure planning study, the water providers found ways to connect the northern members, Barber said. The price tag for the project is estimated at between $15 million and $21 million.
A pipeline to tap the area into an undetermined future renewable water source for the area is expected to cost up to $1 billion to construct, but the authority might have options to finance the structure over a longer period than a traditional bond would allow, he said.
“Looking at financing [the project] over a long term makes it more feasible,” said Monument Town Manager Cathy Green. Some financing options could give the town 50 or more years to pay back the amount.
The authority can come up with a solution that works structurally, but ultimately, it has to work politically as well, Barber said.
The group is faced with a decision as to whether its members should stick together in 2009, Barber said.
“Monument is going to have to decide who its allies are,” he said. It may be that it makes more sense for Monument to work with Fountain since Monument Creek flows into Fountain Creek and take a watershed approach to the situation than for the Town to work with one of its neighbors.
For the time being, Monument’s independent endeavor consists of purchasing water, something Landreth said the town is already behind in doing. The action will not only help the town obtain more water, it will also benefit the Town politically when it works to obtain a renewable water source.
719-481-3423 ext. 4 | nchillino@ccnewspapers.com
