EL PASO COUNTY — Big picture plans for future water management impacting El Paso County residents are moving forward after a water board meeting Friday. News5 looks into what this “Loop Project” could mean for water consumers across El Paso County.
This Cherokee Metro District vote on Friday set up a working understanding and relationship between the district, the Town of Monument, Woodmoor and Donala water districts to try to create this loop water project that would establish a pipeline to move water back to parts of El Paso County that would otherwise leave our area.
Cherokee Metro District General Manager Amy Lathen says this project will help keep the water flowing.
”We cannot continue to mine non-renewable water resources and let it go away out of El Paso County,” said Lathan. “We cannot do that.”
This agreement paves the way to continue developing plans to move water from here at Fountain Creek to areas of eastern and northern El Paso County where the water can be safely reused before it’s lost downstream.
“It protects us from drought years. It protects us from long drought cycles and that is absolutely critical for this region,” said Lathen. “We don’t have a giant reservoir and we don’t have a giant river running through here."
This partnership is just one piece of the puzzle, as there still remains a lot of work to be done to figure out how to fund the project that would cost an estimated $150 million.
”How do you do that? You don’t do it alone.One single water district can not do that alone. That’s why we’re working together,” said Lathen.
And what that will mean for ratepayers remains to be seen.
We will continue to follow these developments and update anything new we learn in the process.
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