Southern Delivery System (SDS)

SDS is a proposed 66-inch diameter, 53-mile long pipeline from the Arkansas River to the eastern outskirts of Colorado Springs. If built it can deliver 70 million gallons of water every day to the City of Colorado Springs. This water will have to be pumped 53 miles uphill by three massive pump stations, virtually requiring a power plant just to generate the needed electricity to power the pumps.

We are currently being told the cost of the project is $1.1 billion. This does not include future expansion of Pueblo Reservoir, which may be required in future years. Nor does the figure include the cost of interest on the bonds which would finance most, if not all, of the project. Some project costs will apparently be externalized through the new Fountain Creek Watershed district which will tax us to fund perpetual attempts to mitigate negative impacts to Fountain Creek.

This is not water we need today. This is water that will allow the city to continue expanding. Without SDS or a similar project to bring more water to Colorado Springs from far away, new subdivisions will not be built. They require an expanded water supply (unless current residents and businesses agree or are forced to give up a huge portion of the water they use).

Nearly $100 million is budgeted for this project in 2009 by Colorado Springs Utilities.

My position on SDS:

1. We need the facts, not the spin. We have been sold SDS. Now it is time for our utility to give us complete, unbiased information - pros and cons. If the project makes sense, then it can survive the daylight of informed public scrutiny.

2. The citizen-owners should have a vote. SDS will be the biggest public works project and the most massive public debt in the history of Colorado Springs. Once built, SDS will enslave us. We’ll be desperate to grow in order to ease the burden of paying off over $2 billion in debt and interest.

3. SDS jeopardizes community viability. It is hushed up as much as possible, but there is serious doubt about Colorado’s future water supply. If we build SDS and double the number of water customers our utility must serve, it is likely future water crises will be much more severe for our city. Better to have half a million people desperate for water than a million.

U.S. Dept. of Interior Water 2025 Study predicts serious water conflict here

How Low Will It Go? Colorado may face a dry and difficult future fighting for water

Scripps Institution of Oceanography: Lake Mead could be dry by 2021

Warming Will Take Toll on River

Spring Snowpack Projected to Drop 50%

The comments I submitted to the Bureau of Reclamation will serve as a good summary of my current position on SDS.