The Unites States Census Bureauís website shows that the population of El Paso County in 2017 was 699,232 people. As of July 1, 2018, the Census states the county has an estimated population of 713,856. Can the current infrastructure handle the anticipated growth in population in the county?Water and wastewaterAndy Pico, a member of the Colorado Springs City Council and the Colorado Springs Utilities Boardís Strategic Planning Committee, said the board expects to see about 2 percent growth in the county each year and is planning ahead for how to handle the increased demand for water and wastewater management.One method is through the construction of the Southern Delivery System, he said. According to http://water-technology.net, the Southern Delivery System carries Arkansas River water from the Pueblo Reservoir north to Colorado Springs, Fountain, the Pueblo West Metropolitan District and the Security Water District.ìWe have a lot of water in the city,î Pico said. ìWe have the ability to bring water up now (using the SDS) for the anticipated growth for the next 50 years.î However, many of the subdivisions in unincorporated areas of the county rely on water from local water districts, like Woodmen Hills Metropolitan District and Meridian Service Metropolitan District, he said.Down the road, the SDS will have additional pump stations and another reservoir added to address rising demands for water, but there is no indication when that will be needed, Pico said.CSU is looking at sensible ways to cooperate with other water districts, especially for the wastewater side of the industry, Pico said. ìWith all the additional regulations, CSU has the extra capacity and is up-to-date while some smaller districts are not,î he said.Another method that CSU has relied on is requiring development to pay its own way, he said. The developer must build the infrastructure they need for each development or pay upfront for the city or county to do it for them, Pico said.ìAny time you are trying to provide these services, it can impact rates,î Pico said. ìWe are trying to manage that as best we can so it does not affect rates or at least to reduce the impact as much as possible.îElectricityPico said CSU has been considering electrical needs for a long time and has an electrical integrated resource plan that goes through the year 2040. It involves adding solar panels, which are already under contract for construction, although the exact location of those panels has not yet been determined, he said.CSU also plans to decommission the Drake Power Plant sometime between 2023 and 2035, but the details of how and when that will happen have not been decided, Pico said. It will likely be replaced with equipment that runs on a combination of sources, like solar and natural gas, he said. ìWe are not going to replace the Drake Power Plant with any kind of emissions-generating systems, though,î Pico said.The biggest obstacle is building the distribution lines and transmission lines to move the power around, he said. Collaboration with developers to have the lines planned out ahead of building construction is vital because it has to be done the right way the first time, Pico said. Those discussions happen throughout the development planning process, he said.ìWe know we have to have additional power coming from somewhere,î Pico said. ìSome pickup points we know about, and we are working on those ones already. Exactly where the rest will come from has yet to be determined.îRoadsMark Andrew, Colorado Department of Transportation North Program Engineer for Region 2, said there are CDOT projects totaling $2.5 billion that are planned for the county, but the lack of funding means there is no way to currently address them.ìWe are not keeping up with the growth, and we are having trouble maintaining what we have,î he said. ìWe may get an interchange built every once in a while, but we are not going to get the kind of money to build what we need to build. Everything we have is going to small safety projects and to maintain what we have ó and there is just nothing left.îCDOT only maintains Highway 24; CDOT conducted a Planning and Environmental Linkage study from April 2016 through March 2018 to identify needs along that roadway from Powers Boulevard in Colorado Springs to Ramah Highway, according to the CDOT website. However, none of the projects identified in the study have funding, Andrew said.ìWe have a passing lane project planned on Highway 24 between Falcon and Peyton, which will add passing lanes in both directions for a couple miles,î he said. ìWe hope to start construction in the spring, and we think we will have the cash for that but it is not guaranteed. That project will cost about $6 million, and I believe it will be a higher priority project.îWith recent storms, much of the CDOT budget for the area is going to repair newly formed or worsening potholes, Andrew said. Maintenance crews are working on them as quickly as possible, essentially playing catch-up, he said. Long term, Highway 24 needs resurfacing, but the limited funds mean that repairing damage rather than resurfacing is the only option, Andrew said.ìWe are still using the same dollar amounts (for the budget) that we had in 1993,î he said. ìThe revenue we are collecting has been the same for 30 years. We are trying to hold together a transportation system that has grown with more people and more trucks on it with the same budget we have had for 30 years, and that is just not sustainable.îAndrew said CDOT is preparing to launch a 10-year planning process in which they will seek public input from holding county meetings and public hearings, as well as allowing for online comments. The goal is to determine what projects the public considers priorities and what CDOTís limited budget for the area should go toward, he said.Matt Steiner, deputy public information officer with the county, said he attempted to secure an interview for ìThe New Falcon Heraldî with someone from the county to address road concerns; but, in an email to the NFH, he wrote that no one wanted to discuss whether the roads can handle the ìspeculatedî prediction of population growth. ìThe predictions are simply that ó predictions,î he wrote. ìWe do have annual plans each year for road maintenance, which can be found on the Public Works webpage; and you can read our strategic plan through 2021 here (at) https://www.elpasoco.com.strategic-plan.î
