Editor’s Note: A hearing officer with the Colorado Division of Water Resources approved the stipulated water replacement plan that would allow metro districts to pump additional water. The officer has not entered a final order in the case. This story erred in saying Colorado Water Court approved the plan.  

Two metro districts expect to use more groundwater to fuel growth east and northeast of Colorado Springs.

Under the plan, Cherokee Metropolitan District and Meridian Service Metropolitan District will have more rights to water in the Upper Black Squirrel Creek Basin that will allow them to serve up to 13,640 new customers, according to a news release. The Upper Black Squirrel Creek Basin is an alluvial groundwater basin, meaning it can be recharged. Deeper groundwater in the Denver Basin does not recharge and some wells in those basins have started to see diminishing production.

A long-awaited plan allows the districts to use more water from the Upper Black Squirrel Creek Basin because they are contributing water to the basin. The districts pump water from the Denver Basin, deliver it to customers, treat the wastewater and then return the water to the Upper Black Squirrel Creek Basin. Under the plan, the districts will be reusing Denver Basin water.

“This allows us to extend the useful life of that water,” said Jim Nikkel, general manager for the Meridian Service Metro District. The district provides water, sewer and other services to the Meridian Ranch area, which is about 4 square miles.

He expects the new water rights will help the area grow from 3,700 homes to its full build-out of 5,000. Cherokee is largely built-out and so the additional water is expected to allow the district to serve new customers outside its boundaries, said Jeff Munger, Cherokee’s water resource engineer. Cherokee serves Cimarron Hills and neighborhoods east of Colorado Springs.

The districts improved the quality of the water they are returning to the aquifer to allow the plans for new wells to go forward. Last July, Cherokee unveiled a $43 million upgrade to its wastewater treatment plant that added reverse osmosis to reduce the total dissolved solids going back into the groundwater. Dissolved solids can include organic matter and salts. Meridian paid for half the plant.

The districts also showed no other water users will be harmed by the new wells, which is critical across the dry eastern El Paso County plains.

The two water providers expect to jointly drill new wells, Nikkel said, although no dates are set for the work to start.

“Both of us are interested in putting this water to use as quickly as we can,” he said.

The decision marks the end of a process started in 2005, Nikkel said. The plan was filed with the courts in 2008.

“We are excited to see the project reach this point,” Munger said.

Meridian Ranch Golf and Recreation Community in Falcon. (The Gazette file )