Colorado Springs Utilities — Southern Delivery System

Colorado Springs Utilities determined in 1996 a new major water infrastructure project would need to be built to supply water to its customers through the 21st century. The Southern Delivery System (SDS) included 50 miles of pipe, three water pump stations and a water treatment plant. The $825 million project required more than 400 permits and approvals, several years of water rate increases and the acquisition of 270 private-property parcels. It was the largest water project to be built in the western U.S. that decade.

Sigler Communications was hired via competitive bid to support the Southern Delivery System in November 2007. We supported communications efforts related to SDS' permitting and planning, land acquisition, rate case communications and project construction and start-up.

We provided extensive support in the areas of strategic communications planning, stakeholder engagement, message development, branding, writing and graphic design. We worked extensively with project engineers, architects, program managers, environmental managers, attorneys, and government relations personnel in telling the story of SDS.

SDS was completed on time to the exact day projected for completion — April 28, 2016 — and $160 million under budget. The successful communications efforts are credited with allowing the project to finish with stakeholder support and absent litigation. SDS received the AWWA Public Communications Achievement Award in 2014 and was identified by Water and Wastes Digest as one of the top projects in the nation.