In this issue
Denver’s water among the best in the nation
You’re drinking some of the tastiest water in the nation, but you already knew that!
In June, Denver Water placed second in a national taste test among water utilities at the American Water Works Association’s annual Best of the Best Water Taste Test in Washington, D.C. The event, composed of regional winners from water-tasting competitions across North America, was part of AWWA’s Annual Conference and Exposition.
A panel of experts rated each water system on its flavor characteristics. Top honors went to the Greenville (South Carolina) Water System.
Denver Water went to the national competition after placing first in a taste test among water utilities in Colorado, Wyoming and New Mexico at the AWWA Rocky Mountain Section’s annual conference in Colorado last September.
Denver’s drinking water comes from rivers, lakes, streams, reservoirs and springs fed by high-quality mountain snow runoff, and the water is carefully filtered and treated before it reaches your tap.
Fish and wildlife plan unanimously approved
The Colorado Wildlife Commission and the Colorado Water Conservation Board recently approved the plan submitted by Denver Water to alleviate impacts to fish and wildlife caused by the proposed Moffat Collection System Project. Wildlife commissioners and local officials have stated that Denver Water’s plan will make the Fraser and Colorado Rivers better off with the Moffat Collection System Project than they are today.
Denver Water’s plan to alleviate the impacts from the Moffat project includes funding for the following projects:
- Stream temperature monitoring.
- Cutthroat trout habitat restoration.
- Stream restoration on the North Fork South Platte, Fraser and Williams Fork rivers.
- Extra water storage space for minimum stream flows on South Boulder Creek.
Denver Water also agreed to help fund a portion of the Upper Colorado River Habitat Project, which will restore approximately 17 miles of the Colorado River from Windy Gap Reservoir to just downstream of the confluence of the Colorado and Williams Fork rivers.
Denver Water’s Moffat Collection System Project will raise Gross Dam by 131 feet and add an additional 77,000 acre-feet of water storage, helping to address three major water supply challenges facing Denver Water: a serious imbalance in Denver Water’s collection system, which could jeopardize reliable water service; the risk of running out of water in a future drought; and an expected shortfall in future supply.
Don’t forget to adjust your sprinklers!
As the summer winds down, adjust your sprinklers so your lawn uses only the water it needs. Follow these suggested watering times for each zone of your yard to keep your lawn healthy and happy into the fall.
August
Fixed spray heads: 16 minutes
Rotor heads: 35 minutes
Manual sprinklers: 24 minutes
September
Fixed spray heads: 12 minutes
Rotor heads: 26 minutes
Manual sprinklers: 18 minutes
Watering two days a week should be sufficient during most of the summer. If needed, water a third day during extreme heat or dry periods. Also, remember no watering between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. to avoid water loss from evaporation.
Your water rates at work
On a snowy winter weekend, it’s not unusual to see fire hydrants crushed by sliding cars. But, even in the summer, errant cars still ram into hydrants.
Denver Water owns and maintains more than 19,200 fire hydrants stretching from County Line Road to Green Valley Ranch. And the in-house hydrant mechanic crew is responsible for all of them, repairing or replacing problem hydrants as soon as possible, making sure the hydrants are in top-notch condition when they are needed.
Denver Water has hydrants that have been providing fire protection for the city well before Denver Water was ever established. Some of the oldest hydrants, from the 1880s, still work just fine.
In 1919, a year after Denver Water was formed, a Denver Water engineer designed the Denver Municipal Water Works model of hydrants, which was built in-house for the next 60 years. But replacement parts became too hard to find and the hydrants became too expensive to build, so Denver Water started buying modern models from outside vendors.
Because a new hydrant can cost upwards of $1,000, crews often reuse parts from their on-site storage, aptly dubbed the “hydrant bone yard.”
Still, hydrants wear out beyond repair, and cars often obliterate them. Each year, Denver Water replaces several hundred hydrants, ensuring vital fire protection is there when it’s needed.
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