Workers placed the last piece of Aurora's Prairie Water Project supply pipe on Thursday, February 11, 2010, nearly 2 years after pipeline construction began. The Prairie Waters Project will help drought-harden the city beginning in 2011.

Workers lowered the final piece of 60 inch concrete-lined steel pipe with a crane into a 10-foot deep trench near the Aurora Reservoir and welded it into place. In total, workers installed 34 miles of 60-inch pipe from Weld County to the Aurora Reservoir.

"This moment is more than the end of major activities for the conveyance pipeline," said Darrell Hogan, Prairie Waters Project Program Director. "This marks a beginning for our final push to conclude construction activities by the end of the year. The project is on schedule and projected to be under budget."

The project broke ground in July of 2007 as work began on the Peter D. Binney Water Purification Facility, located north of the Aurora Reservoir. Pipeline activities began in March of 2008 to connect the North Campus, a natural purification area located along the South Platte River north of Brighton, to the new water purification facility. The completed pipeline will initially allow for 10,000 acre-feet of water to be delivered to Aurora.

Overall, the Prairie Waters Project is 88 percent complete. By May, work is scheduled to conclude on the projects three pumping stations. Workers will then begin testing the conveyance system and delivering water to the new treatment facility.

The Prairie Waters Project is the fastest, cost-effective and environmentally sustainable way to enhance Aurora's water supply. During 2003, the city had less than a 9 month supply of water due to a prolonged drought. To protect Aurora from future drought impacts, the Prairie Waters Project was developed to utilize existing return flows from its transbasin diversions and transferred agriculture rights.

For the latest project news and information, visit www.prairiewaters.org.