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li.l A I:t> Gill FTON ~~ . ;:OISTRlC~ CLIFTON WATER DISTRICT p, 0, Box 100, 137 Third Street Clifton, Colorado 81520 Phones Water Office 434-7328 Treatment Plant 434-5571 Quality Control Laboratory 434-7624 Board of Dlrec:tonl John L. Ballagh, Pr~jdent William M. DOl. Vke Presidei'll George E. Wheeler. Secretary Martin Garber, Treasurer Dickie D. Lewis. Director Staff Raymond I. Schuster, Manager Shirley Weaver. Ollice Manaeer Carey Blount. PIal'll Superintendent Dale Tooker. Assistant Manager August 11, 1993 councilman Jonathan Tripp City of Glenwood Springs 806 Cooper Avenue Glenwood Springs, CO 81602 Re: Glenwood Desalinization . Dear Councilman Tripp: This letter is going to be rather lengthy and technical, but it is my sincere desire that, as a public servant, you take the time to read it and to understand it, as I feel its contents are very important. The Friday, August 6, 1993, issue of The Daily Sentinel quoted you as calling a desalinization plant in the Glenwood Springs area a "pork-barrel project and a waste of taxpayers money". I have no doubt but that you were quoted correctly and that from your perspective the statement reflects your feelings. There are over 25 million people in the United States that use the water in the Colorado River and its tributaries from its origin high in Rocky Mountain National Park to where it ends in a quagmire just short of the Gulf of California. . The United States Bureau of Reclamation (BOR) has identified the hot springs at Dotsero and Glenwood to be the single largest source of salt (total dissolved solids - TDS) introduced into the Colorado River. The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has recommended that drinking water contain less than 500 parts per million TDS. The Clifton Water District diverts its water from the Colorado River for domestic purposes. In 1992, the average TDS of the water we diverted from the Colorado River was about 615 parts per million (approximately 23% higher than the EPA recommended concentrations). Had the desalinization plant been in place in 1992 and removed approximately 65,000 tons of salt from the Colorado River, the average TDS of the water we would divert from the river would have been about 450 parts per million TDS (10%,less than the EPA recommendations). Naturally, the bulk of the 2i million people that use water ~rom the Colorado River below Glenwood Springs are vitally interested in less salt in the Colorado River. We feel that , , , Safe drinking water is our business - Conserving water is everyone's business, <'-., . .'~' ~,' or..-." . '-,--'.-'." . ~ '--'-~-