A handful of water utilities in El Paso County are behind The Loop project, which could eventually help address future growth by serving more than half of the region’s population outside of Colorado Springs. Local water officials say a $4 million grant from El Paso County–funded by the American Rescue Plan Act–will be used for engineering and financial planning starting this winter, and also to begin acquiring the necessary easements for the infrastructure at a later date.
The total project cost is estimated to be between $160 million and $200 million, but there are still a lot of variables to nail down, including construction and financing costs, which have been increasing and volatile recently.