Our history: A century of service

Meeting growing needs

Improving the electric system was only one major priority at this time; securing water rights for the city was arguably even more important.

The work to secure water for future generations started close to home, on the slopes of Pikes Peak. Work to construct seven reservoirs on the South Slope of Pikes Peak spanned nearly 40 years from 1890 to 1929.

The City also eyed the North Slope for water rights too, completing multiple purchases of land surrounding North and South Catamount, Crystal, North and South Cascade creeks. Congress also acted to set aside 10,000 acres of land for use in this effort as well, ensuring work could begin on these projects. Despite the Great Depression, the South Catamount and Crystal reservoirs were added to our system between 1934 and 1937.

Blue River project

Even with an improved local system in place, the City continued planning for additional growth, and the introduction of “trans-mountain water” to our system.

In the 1940s, Colorado Springs looked to the Blue River basin in Summit County to bring additional water to our city. The ambitious “Blue River Project” proposed constructing a 110-mile-long system to divert water west of the continental divide near Breckenridge to our local water system.

The City purchased land and water rights for the Blue River Watershed in 1947, and filed its claim for a conditional decree for appropriation and diversion of waters in the Blue, McCullough, Crystal and Spruce creeks and other Blue tributaries that same year.

Communities in the Western Slope strongly opposed the Blue River Project and other projects to divert water across the Continental Divide to the Denver area, leading to lawsuits and competing proposals. However, through strategic alliances and even the intervention of President Eisenhower, an agreement was reached that allowed Colorado Springs and Denver to divert their share of Blue River water for their communities’ use.

The Blue River Project played a major role in our city’s history, as it was a significant factor in the Air Force’s decision to locate the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs.

Former Colorado Springs City Attorney Frederick T. Henry wrote, “I think it is apparent that without the Blue River Project, Colorado Springs would not have been considered seriously as an Academy site.”

Homestake project

As construction on the Blue River Project wrapped up, plans were already underway for an even larger project, one of the most consequential in our history.

The $60 million Homestake Transmountain Water Project would double the water resources of both Colorado Springs and Aurora by diverting water near Leadville and transporting it more than 100 miles to the Front Range cities.

Like the Blue River Project, the cities’ efforts to acquire water rights were met with opposition and legal challenges from the Western Slope. The case ultimately made it to the Colorado Supreme Court in 1962, where the court sided with Colorado Springs and Aurora.

The decision allowed for construction on the massive project to begin in 1963. Homestake became our community’s workhorse raw water system, transporting up to 70 percent of our water to Colorado Springs via the Rampart Reservoir, which was completed in 1970.

Growing and improving along with our city

Careful planning and execution secured enough water for Colorado Springs to grow into a flourishing city. That same focus remained true for our other services.

Electric service saw major leaps forward in the 21st century. We added generating capacity and improvements to the Martin Drake Power Plant multiple times and added the George Birdsall, Ray Nixon and Front Range Power Plants to our grid by 2003, supporting a population that grew from just over 30,000 in 1920 to more than 360,000 by 2000.

Natural gas service expanded along with the electric grid, meeting the demands of the growing community. Today, that system has more than 2,500 miles of main lines, serving more than 235,000 service points. The growth of the system was briefly paused in the 70s, due to the natural gas crisis when a moratorium was placed on new natural gas permits. That was lifted shortly after the construction of our propane air plant, which is still used today to augment our  natural gas system on our coldest days.

Wastewater and water quality infrastructure also saw big improvements. We built our first wastewater plant in the mid-1930s at the site now occupied by the Las Vegas Street Water Resource Recovery Facility, which saw numerous improvements as technology improved to handle wastewater. In 1973, activated sludge, or microorganisms, were added to the process, and the solids disposal facility was placed at Clear Spring Ranch, constructed in 1984.

Meeting the challenges of the 21st century

In the early 2000s, our water system was tested by a historic drought, bringing new urgency to develop a new raw water delivery system. Following an extremely dry and hot spring and summer of 2002, our water storage dropped to an unprecedented 42 percent, an all-time low in modern times.

Conservation efforts and wetter weather patterns helped ease the stress on our water system in the years following the drought.

Meanwhile, planning for the Southern Delivery System – the largest water delivery project in our region’s history – was well underway. After an extensive permitting process, the project began construction in 2011. 

By 2016, the Southern Delivery System was constructed on time and under budget. This included the installation of 50 miles of pipeline, three pump stations and the Edward Bailey Water Treatment Facility.

In addition to improvements to our water system, we were also busy planning our energy future. In 2022, we closed and decommissioned the Martin Drake Power Plant, which had been in operation since 1924.

To replace Drake’s generation on our grid, we’ve installed six modular natural gas generators adjacent to the old plant. We also began drawing power from our largest solar array, the Pike Solar Project following its completion in December 2023.

These milestones are the result of our Sustainable Energy Plan, and our commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 80% by 2030.

Our commitment in the years ahead

As we celebrate 100 years as your community-owned, four-service utility, it is our honor to serve you for the next 100. We are well positioned for the future, with sustainable plans to meet our water and energy needs for generations to come.

Just as it was in the earliest days of our city, we are proud to serve our role in helping our community grow, build and prosper. We look forward to continuing to provide safe, reliable and competitively-priced utilities to our customers.

A special thanks to Jerry Forte and Margaret Radford and their book “It’s How We’re All Connected: The Story of Colorado Springs Utilities” which provided much of the content for this page.