There is a water shift happening in reservoirs that store water for Colorado Springs Utilities. “We’re pumping our Homestake water out of Turquoise and Twin Lakes at full capacity which is a little bit unusual for us this time of year,” said Colorado Springs Utilities, Water Planning Supervisor, Kalsoum Abbasi. The water is moving in preparation for the spring run-off that is expected to be heavy this year.
“There are few people that realize what it takes to get the water from the mountains to the city,” said Homestake Water Project, Superintendent, Tom Hankins. There are 25 reservoirs in the Colorado Springs Utilities system. Water planners calculate where they can move current water in storage, to maximize how much water can be captured when this year’s run-off happens. “We’re not going to have room to collect every drop, but our job is to stage our water, move it around, so that we can collect as much as we’re able to,” said Abbasi. It is better moving water before, rather than during the run-off.
