Southeast Colorado Water Conservancy Responds to Presidential Veto on Finish the AVC Legislation in Letter to Community

Description: In the Following Letter to the Editor from the Southeast Colorado Water Conservancy District Responds to a recent legislation veto by the President that would have lowered costs and improved affordability for the Arkansas Valley Conduit, a critical project delivering safe drinking water to 39 communities in southeastern Colorado...

Presidential Veto Threatens Affordability of Arkansas Valley Conduit for Lower Arkansas Valley Communities

The legislation vetoed by the President would make the Arkansas Valley Conduit (AVC) more affordable to the people of the Lower Arkansas Valley. The legislation will do three things:

• Reduce the interest rate for repayment
• Extend the repayment period
• Provides the opportunity for debt forgiveness based on economic hardship

Considerable investment made by federal, state and local governments have been made, which makes the project possible. In light of the veto, the Southeastern Colorado Water Conservancy District asks you to review and remember these important details about the Arkansas Valley Conduit:

1. The AVC is a 130-mile-long pipeline that will supply safe drinking water to 39 water systems in the most economically disadvantaged region of Colorado.
2. All of these communities now rely on groundwater as the major source for drinking water. Water in the alluvial aquifer is of poor quality because of salinity and high metal content. The deeper sources for groundwater are contaminated with naturally occurring radioactive material.
3. Other processes, such as reverse osmosis, can and in some cases have been used to remove contaminants, but these are even more expensive and create hazardous waste byproducts that are problematic for AVC participants.
4. The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment has issued enforcement orders for 18 of the 39 AVC participants for violation of federal Environmental Protection Agency standards for radionuclides (radioactive material) in drinking water.
5. The AVC, which brings a new clean and safe source of water to the Lower Arkansas Valley, is the ultimate solution to enforcement orders and groundwater problems.

For the past 25 years, the AVC has received bipartisan support from Congress and previous Administrations. The Southeastern District plans to work to continue this high level of support and remains committed our participants and to the completion of the Arkansas Valley Conduit.

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