Latest southern Colorado news, weather and sports from FOX21 News

PUEBLO COUNTY, COLO. -- It's been about a year since construction began on the Southern Delivery System, or SDS. Thursday crews said they are making great progress in the pursuit to build a nearly 60-mile long pipeline that will bring water to El Paso County.

The water will be pumped from the Pueblo Reservoir and sent to Colorado Springs, Pueblo West, Fountain and Security.

"Pueblo Reservoir stores water from a number of communities, and agricultural interests here in the Lower Arkansas River Basin and Colorado Springs is one of the beneficiaries of this project," Janet Rummel, SDS Public Involvement Manager, said.

But first the large pipe must be installed underground.

"Each segment is typically about 50 feet in length. There is about 6,000 of those 50 foot sections in the entire pipeline," Rummel said.

Crews have already made significant progress and have a little more than 25 miles of pipe installed.

For the most part the pipeline follows already existing utility corridors, but officials said constructions crews are working to be mindful of nearby residents.

"We've really worked hard over the last nearly two decades to work with our neighbors and just to collaborate on the construction of this project to make sure that we're doing it in a responsible way and that we're addressing the concerns of anyone who's impacted by the project," Rummel said.

Rummel said the SDS project was needed because Colorado Springs' current water supply is reaching its capacity.

"We really need to look ahead and plan for the future and ensure we've got another means to deliver water to our community over the next several decades," she said.

The project comes at a high price. Phase I, which includes the construction of the pipeline, three raw water pump stations and a water treatment plant is expected to run close to $1 billion. But Rummel said costs are coming in lower than expected.

"We're seeing much lower costs than originally anticipated, so as a result we're going to have fewer and lower water rates needed," Rummel said.

Part of the project will be funded by rate increases for Colorado Springs Utilities customers that will be phased in through 2016.

"Anytime you make an investment like SDS similar to the previous investments we've made in our water system, that comes with an increase in water rates, but we've really tried to spread out the construction timeline so that we can phase in those rates over time," Rummel said.

Rummel added they are also trying to use local businesses as much as possible.

"There are more than 100 businesses in southern Colorado currently working on SDS construction, and so that's really providing an important boost to the local economies," she said.

The project is expected to take several years to complete. Phase I is scheduled to be completed by early 2016.