Several Southwest Colorado projects were submitted as priorities for federal funding by U.S. Sens. Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper in the pending 2022 budget appropriation bills.

The senators announced they have included $158 million in various senate appropriation bills for Colorado projects.

“As we recover from the worst public health and economic crisis in a century, this funding will help meet the needs of Colorado communities across the state,” said Bennet in a Oct. 19 press release. “From expanding access to health care to building affordable housing and creating good-paying jobs, these investments will help rebuild our economy to deliver opportunity to every Coloradan.”

In total, Bennet and Hickenlooper requested funding for 56 projects in Colorado through the congressional directed spending process, commonly known as earmarks.

“These projects will make a real difference in towns all across our state,” said Hickenlooper. “Coloradans know best what their communities need, and Congress should do its best to listen.”

The Senate is expected to vote on the bills by the end of the year either individually or as a combined package.

If approved by Congress and signed by President Joe Biden, several projects in Southwest Colorado would get funding.

The pumping system delivers water to Dove Creek from the Dolores River pump station. The pipeline is in disrepair, and has not been used for many years in favor of water delivered via the Dove Creek Canal.

Restoring the pump station and piping has become more a priority for Dove Creek as extreme drought has impacted the town’s water supply via the canal.

In October, a special deliver of water had to be delivered to Dove Creek from McPhee Reservoir to prevent a municipal supply shortage caused by the drought.

Without the solution, the town would run out of water in February, said Chadd Dagan, manager of the Dove Creek Public Works Department.

To fulfill the town’s water rights in McPhee, the Bureau of Reclamation and Dolores Water Conservancy District arranged to deliver 40 acre-feet of water down the canal to fill the town’s municipal reservoir.

Dove Creek officials are looking toward solutions to provide redundancy for water supply in the future, including building a second small reservoir and fixing the pump station at the river.

Rico is a historic mining community located between Dolores and Telluride, and is home to 232 full-time residents. In addition to the full-time population, approximately 55 homes belong to part-time residents or are used as vacation homes.

The town lacks a central sewer system.

“Currently the residents and commercial operations make use of septic systems, and in some cases even cesspools for wastewater disposal,” stated Rico Mayor Barbara Betts in a May letter to Bennet’s office requesting the federal funding. “While there is broad recognition amongst community members that a central sewer system is desirable, Rico’s tax base is so small that the cost of a central sewer system places an oversized burden on the taxpayers.”

The $2.5 million in federal funding would be used as leverage to obtain additional funding for the estimated $4.2 million cost of the central sewer project.

It would initially be built out to serve the commercial core of town along Glasgow Avenue (Colorado Highway 145). Plans in 2019 called for the wastewater treatment facility to be constructed on the south side of town.

In 2019, Rico residents voted 60% to 40% to reject a proposed significant mill levy increase to help fund the project. Taxes would have increased $45 per month on a $250,000 home.

The recently opened Kwiyagat Community Academy in Towoac provides kindergarten and first grade instruction for 30 students with a goal of adding additional grades in the future. Kwiyagat means “bear” in the Ute language.

It is the first public charter school on an Indian reservation in Colorado. The curriculum will blend Ute history, art and culture with core educational instruction, including science, technology, engineering and math.

Other local projects earmarked for funding include:

jmimiaga@the-journal.com