A pipeline that will bring clean water to the Arkansas Valley got a $250 million boost Wednesday in federal funding.

The 130-mile system will bring water to communities that are under enforcement orders from the state health department because of the poor water quality. Some of the communities have naturally occurring radium, a radioactive element in their water. The human body deposits radium in bones where it remains radioactive, according to previous Gazette reporting.

Camille Calimlim Touton, Commissioner of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, announced the funding during a trip to Pueblo and it was celebrated by state and local leaders as well.

“It’s a big, big day for the Arkansas Valley Conduit,” said Bill Long, president of the Southeastern Colorado Water Conservancy District, in a Gazette interview.

The pipeline was promised to Arkansas Valley communities in 1962. But only got underway in 2023. The price tag on the pipeline slated to run from Pueblo to Lamar is now expected to cost $1.3 billion with recent inflation and newly discovered construction challenges, Long said. The Southeastern Colorado Water Conservancy District has $590 million for the project, said district spokesman Chris Woodka, so its completion relies on additional funding. The pipeline was estimated to cost $600 to $700 million when construction started.

The pipeline construction has almost reached Boone, in eastern Pueblo County, and the new funding could allow the pipeline to reach Rocky Ford, Long said. In addition to the 30-inch pipeline, the district is planning a new water treatment facility to remove the trace chlorine or ammonia from the water and construction is poised to start soon with equipment on site, Long said.

The recent funding came from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law passed in 2021, under President Joe Biden.

Long said he is hopeful the project will continue to have bipartisan support. He noted that the project received $28 million in federal funding under President Donald Trump’s first administration.

He also said he appreciated support from both Colorado Sens. John Hickenlooper and Michael Bennet, both Democrats. The two lawmakers celebrated the funding announcement in a joint news release.

“This major Bipartisan Infrastructure Law investment will be critical to get this project across the finish line to provide safe, clean water to tens of thousands of Coloradans along the Arkansas River,” Bennet said.

The project is expected to serve 50,000 people in 39 communities.

Since the project has been decades in the making, communities have set up other solutions to their water quality problems such as reverse osmosis treatment. But the waste from that treatment creates its own costly problem, Long said.

“A cleaner source of water was truly the only real solution,” Long said.