Rifle_WCPlan2008

• Project Type: Water Conservation Plan
• Contract/PO #: OE PDA 08-17
• Applicant: City of Rifle
• Project Name: City of Rifle Water Conservation Plan
• Title: City of Rifle Water Conservation Plan Final Report - July 2008
• Date: 7/1/2008
• County: Garfield
• Water Conservation - Doc Type: Complete Plan

City of Rifle Water Conservation Plan Final Report -July 2008
1.0 Existing Water System Profile
Section 1.0 summarizes key features of the existing water system including sources of supply,
water diversion, treatment, and delivery infrastructure, water use, key system limitations/issues,
pricing/policies, planning efforts and conservation activities. This system information is key to
identifying and selecting appropriate water conservation measures and programs.
1.1. System Physical Characteristics
Potable System Production Facilities
Figure 1-1 depicts the City's potable water system infrastructure, including sources,
treatment facilities, distribution mains, tanks and pump stations.
All of the City's potable water is derived from surface sources. The City's primary
supply is the Colorado River. All diverted Colorado River water is directed through a
large pre-sedimentation pond and pumped up to the Graham Mesa Water Treatment Plant
(GMWTP), its main treatment facility. The GMWTP has a process capacity of
approximately 4.5 MGD and has historically accounted for 80 to 90% of total potable
water production. From the GMWTP, the water is pumped to the " 3-MG Tank," the
City's main storage facility, which serves also as a disinfection contactor. Water is
distributed to various parts of the distribution system from the 3-MG Tank. Process
residuals from the GMWTP are recycled, in part, on an intermittent basis. Wasted
residuals flow by gravity to unlined settling ponds located on the south end of Graham
Mesa where water either percolates and slowly returns to the Colorado River or
evaporates. While the raw water pump station was constructed in 2006, the GMWTP is
almost 30 years old and is in need of replacement or major upgrades in the near future.
The City also has a roughly 0.7-MGD treatment facility, the Beaver Creek Water
Treatment Plant (BCWTP), located on Taughenbaugh Mesa, south of the City. The
BCWTP is located at an elevation that allows its high-quality treated water to flow by
gravity to the distribution system through a 0.5-MG finished water reservoir. While the
City operates this plant as much as possible due to these benefits, unreliable Beaver
Creek flows in a dry year reduce this source's firm capacity to only 0.15 MGD. The
BCWTP is nearly 20 years old and has recently undergone modest improvements.
In sum, the City's current total potable water production capacity is about 5.2 MGD in a
normal water year and as low as 4.65 MGD in a dry year. Total treatment process waste
volume is estimated to account for about 10% of raw water diversions, a fairly high
percentage, but there is significant uncertainty in this estimate.
Potable System Storage & Distribution Facilities
The City's potable water distribution system consists of about 64 miles of transmission
and distribution mains. These distribution mains cover five pressure zones, which are
separated by two booster pump stations (BPSs) and five pressure reducing valves
(PRVs). Roughly 20% of the City's current water use is located in pressure zones
requiring booster pumping. This percentage will rise significantly with future
development targeting higher-elevation areas. Therefore, water conservation in those
areas will achieve energy conservation as a result of both reduced raw water and finished
water booster pumping. In addition to the 3-MG Tank and 0.5-MG BCWTP finished
water reservoir, the system has 2.6-MG of additional storage split across three tanks in
SGM # 99055A-388 7 Existing Water System Profile