U.S. Bureau of Reclamation broke ground on Boone Reach trunk line of the Arkansas Valley Conduit in southeastern Colorado during the last week in April.
Reclamation Commissioner Camille Calimlim Touton, gave credit to President Joe Biden's administration's drive to bring clean, reliable drinking water to the area's 39 communities, according to an April 28 news release.
"Through the President's Investing in America agenda, Reclamation is now well positioned to help advance these important water projects that have been paused for decades," Touton said in the news release. "Our investment in this project, dedicated by President Kennedy more than 60 years ago, will provide the path forward for safe drinking water to so many residents of this area."
Touton was joined at the $60 million major infrastructure project groundbreaking by Colorado Democrat U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet, Southeastern Colorado Water Conservancy District President Bill Long and Colorado Water Conservation Board Director Rebecca Mitchell, as well as other local and federal officials, the release said.
"Generations of people of the Lower Arkansas Valley have waited for the AVC for more than 60 years, and now with construction starting, we are seeing the realization of that dream," Long said in the news release. "This is the culmination of years of determination on the part of Reclamation, the district and the AVC participants to get this job done."
The inaugural contract, awarded by the Bureau to WCA Construction for almost $43 million in September 2022, is for the first Boone Reach trunk line, six miles of pipeline from the eastern end of Pueblo Water's system toward Boone, Colo. When the contract was awarded, the Bureau announced they expected the trunk line to be complete in 2024, according to a September 2022 news release.
Construction of the AVC was authorized as part of The Fryingpan-Arkansas Project Act, signed in 1962 by President John F. Kennedy, but it was never constructed because the communities could not afford all of the costs, according to the Reclamation website. Public Law 111-11, signed by President Barack Obama in 2009, provided 65% federal funding for the Arkansas Valley Conduit. A preferred project design was identified in 2014 and has since been revised to reduce costs.
"This long-awaited project is a vital step forward for the Arkansas Valley and shows what can be accomplished through a strong coalition of federal, state and local partnerships," Bureau Eastern Colorado Area Manager Jeff Rieker said in the April news release.
