By Pete Gawda
That 24-inch pipeline being laid along Rex Road has had some people wondering what it’s all about. The pipeline is Phase 1A of a utility project to provide water to several subdivisions west of the Falcon area.
“It is really a long term project,” said Loren Moreland, board member for Falcon Area Water and Wastewater Authority, and vice president and project manager for Classic Homes.
Moreland said the utility (FAWWA) was established in 2017 from an intergovernmental agreement among the three metropolitan districts of Sterling Ranch. In 2021 the intergovernmental agreement was expanded to included the metropolitan district of The Retreat.
According to its 2024 budget, the utility provides water and wastewater service to 350 accounts located at Sterling Ranch and the Retreat at Timber Ridge. The customers are billed directly for water and wastewater use. Revenues for the 2024 $30.7 million budget expenditures come from administrative fees, water and sewer service fees, tap fees and interest.
The utility will eventually serve the nearby Schmidt parcel as well as the Retreat at Prairie Ridge, Moreland said.
He said the utility will be using water rights in the subdivisions served in addition to other water rights the utility has purchased. “We currently have two wells,” Moreland said. Those wells are in the Sterling Ranch area. There are three more wells that have been completed but are not operational. He said the utility could eventually have as many as 27 wells in various locations.
Phase 1A, which will be completed this summer, consists of a 24-inch water line from the water treatment plant at Sterling Ranch, east and north toward Winsome, at the intersection of Meridian and Hogden roads.
Phase 1B will continue the project on to Winsome in Black Forest. Construction should begin in the fall with completion next spring.
Phase 2 will proceed westward from Winsome to Bar X Road, where the utility owns water rights. There is no timetable for the construction of this phase.
As for wastewater, the utility has a lift station at Sterling Ranch that pumps wastewater east to Meridian Ranch and eventually to the Cherokee Metro District’s treatment plant, Moreland said. Part of the wastewater flows westward by gravity and will be treated by Colorado Springs Utilities.
Editor’s note: The NFH will continue to report on the progress of the FAWWA’s project.
