How about an ice-cold glass of recycled wastewater?

Water for future homes and businesses on the plains east of Colorado Springs might come from flushed toilets.

That's because fresh water is running out fast.

Few, if any, water rights are available, and well owners have relentlessly mined the water that is there, driving water tables down.
Developers are left to hunt for new ways to meet El Paso County's strict water requirements that demand a 300-year water supply for new subdivisions, the strictest in the state and one county commissioners have rarely waived.

"Usually I'm not a cutting edge guy," said Commissioner Dennis Hisey, from the Fountain Valley. "But that's the kind of technology we need, and we need it sooner rather than later."

Development out east relies on a finite supply of water stored in underground aquifers.

By 2008, farmers, ranchers, cities and homeowners drilled more wells in El Paso County than anywhere else in the state - 19,919, about two-thirds of which are residential wells, according to the Colorado Division of Water Resources.

State water engineer Dick Wolfe said studies show the aquifers have been depleted by up to 50 feet in places, while other spots have seen little or no drop.|

Meantime, most if not all deep aquifer water rights were grabbed up long ago.

Alluvium water, closer to the surface, also is spoken for but it's considered renewable, because it recharges from rainfall and snow melt, though not as fast as it's being sucked out, state water engineers say.

All that leads Wolfe to believe that recycling is a critical part of the state's future.

That's the plan for Falcon Greens Business Park at Judge Orr Road and Highway 24.

The idea is to recycle wastewater from toilet to tap, reducing water use by 80 percent, said Mike Hurd, one of the people involved in the project.

It's part of a planned 49-acre self-sustaining subdivision to be powered by solar and wind energy.

The water component, Hurd said, could completely solve El Paso County's water problems.

Hurd said water would be purified with a new patent-pending process and recirculated for use over and over. The proposal also includes an option to inject treated water into the aquifer.

Permits have not been issued by federal and state agencies, but Hurd described regulators as "supportive."

"Once we are able to prove this out, then we can take this system type and utilize it throughout El Paso County," he said. "There are a number of developers and property owners watching and waiting to see the project happen."

It's ironic that a project that could render the county's 300-year water rule moot isn't itself subject to the rule. That's because the property has an obsolete zoning label and meets other conditions that exempt it from the rule. It's the only tract of land like it in the state, Hurd said.

However, the business park's developers aren't trying to sidestep the rule. They're trying to do the rule one better, Hurd said.
The business park wants to attract technology and green-based firms, but the economy has stalemated progress, and Hurd couldn't say when construction would begin.

Another alternative centers on recharge. Cherokee Metropolitan District is building 11 storage basins south of Ellicott to hold treated wastewater as it filters into the shallow alluvium aquifer.

As it percolates through the soil and blends with virgin groundwater, the treated water will be purified and again pumped, chlorinated and delivered to the district's 8,000 homes and 450 businesses, said Cherokee Metro District manager Kip Petersen.

"It doesn't replace new water," he said, "but it allows us to extend our use."

Construction of a wastewater treatment plant is under way and is expected to go into service next year.

Most required permits from the Colorado Public Health and Environment Department have been issued, with state engineers signing off on the technology, said Water Quality Division spokesman Steve Gunderson.

Customers' reactions aren't surprising. "I'm going to be drinking what?" they say, but Petersen stressed the engineering is already is at work in California and Phoenix, although Cherokee's recharge system is the first of its kind in Colorado.

Petersen said without turning to alternate methods of recycling, reuse and recharge, there's simply not enough water to go around.
"In 10 years, this state is looking at a crisis," he said.