Photo courtesy of Chieftain photo file

Power plants - the coal-burning kind that provide most of the state’s electricity - use a tremendous amount of water. When all three Comanche units operated by Xcel south of Pueblo are on line after the year 2009, the company will lease 14,700 acre-feet annually from the Pueblo Board of Water Works. The company will make hefty payments for the power, which will largely be used outside the Arkansas Valley. Xcel also bought the Las Animas Consolidated Ditch in 1984. Last year, the Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association completed its campaign to gain enough water rights to supply two large power plants near Holly by purchasing more than half of the Amity Canal. Water is also used in power plants that supply users in the valley. The largest is at Colorado Springs, which reuses nonpotable water in its power plants. All told, in the next 50 years, power plants in the Arkansas Valley potentially could double their current use - to a total of more than 50,000 acre-feet, or almost twice as much water as Pueblo now uses in its municipal water system.

To view the full article, visit the Pueblo Chieftain. For a copy of the original article contact the WIP at (970) 247-1302 or stop by the office at 841 East Second Avenue in Durango.