EL PASO COUNTY — Developers searching for water for new homes and businesses in El Paso County could end up using some recycled, purified toilet water.
The county requires a 300-year water supply for most new subdivisions, the strictest requirement in the state and one that county commissioners have rarely waived.
But few, if any, water rights are available, the supply of water stored in underground aquifers is finite, and well owners have mined the water that is there.
By 2008, farmers, ranchers, cities and homeowners had 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 some places.
At a business park under development near U.S. 24 east of Colorado Springs, one idea is to recycle wastewater from toilet to tap, reducing water use by 80 percent, said Mike Hurd, who is involved in the project.
