Colorado senators celebrate $60 million in funds for Pueblo’s Arkansas River Valley Conduit project

PUEBLO, Colo (KRDO) -- Thursday, Colorado U.S. Senators Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper joined Pueblo leaders to celebrate millions in funds going towards providing a safe and secure supply of water.

The long-awaited Arkansas River Valley Conduit (AVC) Project will receive $60 million from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

Colorado senators celebrate $60 million in funding for a clean water project in Pueblo

The conduit was first authorized back in the 1960s by President John F. Kennedy. Kennedy even visited Pueblo back in 1962 to sign the bill approving the project and gave a speech at the city's football stadium Dutch Clark Stadium.

Now, with funding from the federal government, the project is being accelerated.

The conduit will transport water from the Pueblo Reservoir and then be treated by the water board's system and connect the board's transmission line with the new line to start at the intersection of U.S. 50 and 36th lane, near the Pueblo Airport.

The conduit is a 130-mile water pipeline connecting the Pueblo Dam to Lamar, and it aims at providing fresh water to 39 rural communities in southeast Colorado facing water quality problems.

"Absolutely. I think it should have been fulfilled sooner. But I'm glad that, you know, almost nothing ever moves in a straight line. And I'm very glad that we're all here to see this. I wish that all the people in 1960 who were counting on that clean drinking water, you know, coming a lot sooner, were here to see it, too," said Micheal Bennet, U.S. Senator.

Officials with the South Eastern Colorado Water District said they hope to be completely done with this project by 2028.