COLORADO SPRINGS, Colorado — A major upgrade to the Security Water District is nearing completion. However, construction work on the pipeline project will disrupt traffic for a few weeks.
Bradley Road will be closed between Main Street/Hancock Expressway and Cody Drive for the next two and half weeks.
Crews hired by the Army Corps of Engineers are installing the final sections of the pipeline needed to complete the district's groundwater mitigation project.
"They're really putting in the last pieces of the pipeline and then they've got to make sure that everything works right," said Roy Heald, Manager of the Security Water and Sanitation Districts.
The district's water historically came from a series of two dozen wells drilled around the community. In 2016, elevated levels of toxic chemicals called perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) were detected in the aquifer.
Heald said the board voted to build an emergency connection to Colorado Springs Utilities' Southern Delivery System as a workaround.
"We spent about $6 million to do those emergency fixes. Fortunately, in 2018, the Air Force started paying the bills for the water that we're buying."
The source of the contamination was traced back to firefighting foam used by the Air Force at Peterson Air Force Base. The military has since paid for an ionization filtration system to remove these "forever chemicals" from the water.
The pipeline will pump well water to the treatment station, then carry the cleaned water back into Security's system.
"That water provides the best value for our customers because all of that well infrastructure was bought and paid for years ago."
The project is scheduled to wrap up by the end of the year. Once construction is finished, a water quality testing period will take place. Heald hopes to have the new system online in early 2021.
