The State of Colorado's Watersheds Report 2005

• Year: 2005
• Title: The State of Colorado's Watersheds Report
• Author: Colorado Watershed Assembly
• Description: 2005
• Publications - Doc Type: Other

A
OF COLO
o
1876
Colorado Department
of Public Health
and Environment
The Colorado Department of
Public Health and Environment — Wa-
ter Quality Control Division's (Divi-
sion) Source Water Assessment and
Protection (SWAP) program has re-
cently produced the source water as-
sessment results for Colorado's public
water supplies. The results are the first
of their kind and are the culmination
of an intensive four -year effort by the
Division and its contractors to assess
the potential susceptibility to contami-
nation of nearly 3,300 public drinking
water sources throughout the state.
The assessment provides useful infor-
mation to communities concerning the
possible contaminant sources to which
their water supply is potentially most
susceptible.
The source water assessment pro-
vides a screening -level evaluation of
the likelihood that a potential contami-
nation problem could occur rather than
an indication that a potential contami-
nation problem has or will occur. The
assessment is NOT a reflection of the
current quality of the untreated source
water, nor is it a reflection of the qual-
ity of the treated drinking water that is
supplied to the public. The results of
this assessment reflect the best efforts
of the Division and its contractors to
simplify several complex physical,
chemical and operational processes,
and to assemble the best available data
for use in the assessment.
Source Water
Assessment Results
The source water assessment
summary report presents a brief sum-
mary of the total susceptibility of each
water source to potential contami-
nant sources, the most prevalent and
most threatening types of contaminant
sources each water source may be sus-
ceptible to, and the vulnerability of the
physical setting of each water source
to impacts from potential contamina-
tion. Each assessment evaluates both
individual and cumulative risks from
potential contamination for the water
sources that were evaluated.
The Safe Drinking Water Act re-
quires the Division to make the source
water assessment results available to
the general public. The assessment
reports are posted to the Colorado
watershed news
SWAP program web site (www.cdphe.
state.co.us/wq/sw/swaphom.htmi).
The next phase of the SWAP
program is the protection phase. The
Division is currently working on inte-
grating the Wellhead Protection pro-
gram and SWAP program plans into
one overall document. The integrated
program plan will identify information
regarding the components that should
be included in a comprehensive source
water protection plan. The Division
will be soliciting public input on this
integrated program plan through an
advisory group. Once finalized, the
integrated program plan will serve as
the guide for voluntarily developing
and implementing a source water pro-
tection plan.
The source water
assessment provides a
screening -level evaluation
of the likelihood that a
potential contamination
problem could occur.
39