Water tap sales resume in Pueblo West, 1,050 to be sold in the next three years
PUEBLO WEST, Colo, (KRDO) -- People looking to move to Pueblo West now have the opportunity to purchase water taps, a scare resource in an area where the amount of available water supply has been a topic of discussion. The Pueblo West Metro District paused the sale of water taps for 2022 on January 24th.
Tuesday, the Pueblo West Metro District voted unanimously to allow builders in the county to apply for water taps moving forward for the rest of the year.
After the stoppage on the 24th, two consulting groups, FCS group and RESPEC gave projections for how many additional taps they can sell over the next three years while ensuring that there would be enough water to go around and see "responsible growth" in the region.
FCS group estimated that Pueblo West could add 2,771 taps over the next three years, while RESPEC estimated 695 taps is all they could put back on the market. The metro district decided on selling 1,050 taps over the next three years. 400 in 2022, 400 in 2023 and 100 in 2024, while the PWMD will hold onto 150 for commercial uses.
"We need to be conservative. We need to answer to the people of Pueblo West. They need to understand our conservative approach ensures that they are going to be able to turn their water on in the morning and that's our biggest concern," Pueblo West Metro District President Doug Proal said.
According to the Pueblo West Metro District, the reason the estimates were vastly different is because each group used a different approach to determine how much water is available for use in Pueblo West.
FCS group used an average yield model from all available water sources, or a more general method. RESPEC group used a firm yield approach with water in storage, a more precise method.
Some Pueblo West residents raised concerns about the handling of water conservation efforts in a board meeting on April 11th.
"Now this water thing, this shouldn't have been an issue. This community has been here 50 years and we are having an issue with water now," Tom Camporini questioned.
"These water taps I understand are going to be limited, I don't want to lose out on that," Robert Figueroa said.
In response, the Pueblo West Metro District is ensuing that one large home builder will not be able to buy all the taps and potentially hoard them from smaller builders.
They have outlined that each builder will be limited to five water taps per meeting this year. President Proal said they have 18 more meetings in 2021, making 90 taps the maximum amount a single builder can buy for 2022.
Additionally, after a 30 day approval process with the architecture committee, each builder must show 90 days of continuous progress on building a home where they have purchased the tap. This process for allowing fair destruction of the available taps was on the mind of PWMD Board Treasurer, Matt Smith during the April 11th meeting.
"I think you guys put a lot of emphasis on the small builders as well, making sure that they are protected in this thing. The goal is to make sure that if someone is going to pull a permit, they are actually going to follow through and build a house," Smith said. "They are not going to just pull a permit and hold onto that tight and hopefully sell it on the market someday. We are not going to allow that."
The Pueblo West Metro District has ensured the public on multiple occasions that they are actively looking for more water resources to add to their water portfolio, allowing for as many taps as possible to be added from 2024 and beyond.
