System Improvement Pilot Success
Pine Drive Water District and Beulah Water Works District are two small surface water systems located about 30 miles southwest of Pueblo in the Beulah Valley. While the systems are located only a few miles apart from each other, their water sources are located in different drainage basins. The importance of this was highlighted during a drought in 2002, as one system’s water source dried up entirely, while the other system’s source sustained productivity. The operator in charge at the time came up with the idea to install an emergency pipeline that would allow the systems pipe water back and forth during emergency situations. Over the years, this interconnect has been used a handful of times, but years of non-use affected the pumps and generator, necessitating repairs. In 2016, the systems pursued the division’s System Improvement Pilot, which is a pilot program created to help systems address pressing infrastructure needs and optimize operations. Both Pine Drive Water District and Beulah Water Works District joined the program and began the process of repairing the interconnect. Through the program, the systems collaborated on an intergovernmental agreement to share water and participated in operations and maintenance training. They also designed and rerouted the interconnect to take advantage of existing gravity flow and elevation grades in the area, rather than relying on a generator to pump the water through a vault.
The interconnect proved exceptionally useful in the summer of 2018, when drought conditions struck the area again. Both systems’ water supplies were dwindling when a rainstorm over the Junkins Fire burn scar brought ash down into the creek that supplied Pine Drive Water District, which rendered that supply impossible to treat. The combination of these events put the system at risk of running out of water. Beulah Water Works District’s supply was replenished by the storm and was not tainted by the ash. Beulah Water Works District was able to use the interconnect to supply water to Pine Drive Water District, thus maintaining pressure and protecting the system from contamination until Pine Drive’s water supplies were replenished later in the summer.
Pine Drive Water District and Beulah Water Works District demonstrated resilience in the face of emergency situations by installing an interconnect between the two systems and creating an intergovernmental agreement to share water during those emergency situations. It is worth noting that there are many factors to take into account when considering an interconnect with another system, and this approach may not be right for all systems.
