Construction started this week in southern Colorado on a $2.3-billion, 62-mile pipeline that will transport water north from the Pueblo Reservoir for use by Colorado Springs and several Denver suburbs.

Engineers from CH2M Hill, Denver, will rechannel up to 100 million gal. a day of water from the Arkansas River, which fills the reservoir, and pump it uphill more than 1,600 ft in elevation to two new reservoirs that will be located east of Colorado Springs. The 66-in.-diameter pipeline will be built under farms, ranches, suburbs, railroad tracks and four highways, including Interstate 25, which runs along Colorado’s Front Range.