About Pikes Peak Regional Water Authority

The Pikes Peak Regional Water Authority was organized on January 10, 2007 through the adoption of an Intergovernmental Agreement executed by the members. Prior to its organization, the entity was known as the Palmer Divide Water Group. The Palmer Divide Water Group was dissolved upon the organization of the Pikes Peak Regional Water Authority. Like its predecessor, the PPRWA is a consortium of water providers serving the communities in northern El Paso County.

Our members are: Academy Water and Sanitation District, Cherokee Metropolitan District, Donala Water and Sanitation District, Triview Metropolitan District, The Town of Monument, the Town of Palmer Lake and Woodmoor Water and Sanitation District. Each of the members owns and operates water systems. For contact information for our members or for our manager, please go to the Contact Us page by using the menu link above. Each of the members recognized that while each had unique challenges to providing a continuing, cost effective and reliable water supply to its service area, there was also much in common and that each could benefit from sharing information with the larger group.

Purposes of the Authority

The continuing drought that Colorado has experience for several years brought the members a reminder that Colorado is a semi-arid state that is prone to drought. This was not a new revelation, but the sustained drought brought a realization that ample moisture for several years had created a false sense of security about the sustainability of adequate water supplies for the region. Each of the members began the process of reviewing and revising long term strategic plans to insure that an adequate supply of water to meet current and future needs was stable and reliable under worst case scenarios.

While the water supplies managed by the members are adequate for many years to come, responsible managers must be planning many years into the future. The development of additional water resources and the adoption of new technology have long lead times, and future planning must be undertaken as a continual process.

The members recognized that there are three critical elements to securing an adequate and reliable water supply:

1. Efficiency of use: the members realized that each drop of water must be directed to its intended use. To that end, the members have begun the review of their own systems of collection, treatment, storage and distribution to determine whether their system suffers from water loss because of leaks, inefficient valves and metering or other mechanical reason that can be corrected in order to stabilize the water system. The members have also begun to study the feasibility of interconnecting their water systems to provide for the efficient movement of water and to increase the stability and reliability of the region’s water supply system. For a more comprehensive discussion of the members' commitment to system efficiency, please refer to our System Efficiency page.

2. Conservation: the members realized that the term “water conservation” is a term without a precise definition or conventional understanding or use. It is a term that, while widely used, means different things to different people. For the members, “water conservation” is one of several wise use strategies employed to make certain that water resources are applied to the highest and best uses. “Water conservation” is not an end in itself, but is a system of applied strategies among multiple uses intended to support the highest priority and valuable uses of the water supply. For a more comprehensive discussion of the members' commitment to Resource Conservation, please refer to our Conservation page.

3. Renewable water supplies: the members realized that populations grow and that today’s water resources cannot meet the needs of the future. Even with the wisest and most comprehensive water supply management, the best system design and engineering and the best educated consumer it will be necessary to develop future water supplies to sustain normal growth. To that extent, the members have begun planning for the acquisition of new supplies of water that will be renewable. Much as a farmer applies modern agricultural science to maximizing his crop yield year after year, water managers apply modern techniques to optimizing the yield from each water supply source while ensuring that the source is rejuvenated and renewed. For a more comprehensive discussion of the members' commitment to the acquisition of renewable resources, please refer to our Renewable Resources page.