The city of Fountain is on the cusp of signing a 50-year agreement to pull hundreds of acre-feet in water per year from wells on the historic Venetucci Farm.

“This is the cheapest water we’re going to get,” summarized Fountain Mayor Sharon Thompson at a presentation on the contract on Tuesday.

The deal, if struck, would provide the water-poor community with the equivalent resources for something like 2,000 new homes, according to City Manager Scott Trainor.

The Venetucci Farm has been a staple in the Pikes Peak area for decades since Nick and Bambi Venetucci started a pumpkin patch in the 1930s. In the 2000s, multiple factors contributed to the urban farm’s latest owners transferring access to some of the farm’s wells to nearby water districts while retaining others for agricultural use.

Use of the water has gone back and forth between three water providers since. Unlike wells that draw from the non-replenishing Denver Basin, the Venetucci wells draw from the shallower Widefield Aquifer. The groundwater is fed by surface water like Fountain Creek and does replenish as it is used, according to Security Water District Manager Roy Heald.

At the beginning of the sharing agreement, Fountain received all of the wells’ output as the city worked on finishing its connection to the Southern Delivery System, which brings water from the Arkansas River.

As the SDS went online, water authorities in the Fountain Valley discovered per- and polyfluoroalkyl substance (PFAS) groundwater contamination caused by military operations. PFAS, a group of substances also known as “forever chemicals,” have been linked to adverse health effects in humans.

Use of the wells at the farm was halted until the U.S. Air Force paid for the completion of a PFAS filtration facility for Security, according to Heald. The well water now runs through that plant along with the rest of the district’s water.

PFAS chemicals halted, perhaps forever, the growing of crops that humans consume on the farm. Venetucci still holds an annual pumpkin giveaway for the many Pikes Peak region kindergarteners whose first field trip is on the farm, but the pumpkins are brought in from off-site. The preserved agricultural-use wells now help grow alfalfa and cut flowers.

Samuel Clark, executive director of the Pikes Peak Real Estate Foundation, the group that owns the property, called forever chemicals a “tragedy.”

“There’s no scrubbing it out of the aquifer,” he said.

The most recent groundwater agreement splits the wells’ output between the Security Water and Sanitation District, the Widefield Water and Sanitation District and the city of Fountain. Security and Widefield each receive 45% of the water, while Fountain gets 10%.

A few months ago, Heald said Security approached Fountain with the possibility of transferring the majority of its water access. He said the district already had a robust water portfolio and could stand to lose the extra supply.

“We found that we didn’t really need to have our full allocation at this time,” he said.

Fountain, on the other hand, is “leaving no stone unturned” in its search for more water, said Taylor Murphy, Fountain’s water resources manager.

In a memo on the well contract, Murphy wrote that analysis prompted by requests for new water connections in 2021 and 2022 found that peak consumption was already approaching the city’s capacity. The situation has since limited the city’s ability to accept any new development requests.

With the new Venetucci Farm contract, that could change practically overnight. Since Fountain already has a connection to Security’s system to take its 10%, opening the valve for more water would require only maintenance and upgrades. The city’s memo describes the contract as a “turnkey” solution to more water.

Fountain would ramp up its portion of the wells’ output over several years. By 2030, Fountain would take 38.6% of the Venetucci water, while Security would have 16.4%. Widefield, which is not part of the agreement, would keep its 45%.

By 2030, Fountain would get 521 acre-feet of water, contributing the resources for 15.5% of the city’s annual water demands. It would allow the city to start accepting new water connections.

The appeal of that prospect for developers was not lost on Fountain City Council, which on Tuesday tabled discussion of the water contract for 90 days to consider what, if any, rules need to be created regarding who can use the new water source.

Trainor said council could determine what portion should go to residential, commercial or industrial development. He said council could also carve out specific projects that will receive water.

Thompson said she was still eager for the city to sign.

“If we don’t accept the water, you know someone else will,” she said.