Englewood 1997 WCPlan - Laserfiche WebLink

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DEC 26 '96 10:29AM AQUASAN NETWORK INC P.3 BACKGROUND Water System History Prior to 1952, Englewood was served water by the Denver Water Board. In 1948, however, the citizens of Englewood voted to issue bonds to develop an independent water system. During this period the City acquired water rights and developed the physical plant to treat and distribute the water. The first water right purchased were the Atchinson Ranch rights, located on the present site of the Locheed-Martin complex near Ken-Caryl in the southwest Denver metropolitan area. Later in the mid-1950's, partly in response to drought conditions, additional water rights were purchased' on Bear Creek and the South Platte. Also during the 1950's the City of Englewood purchased transmountain diversion water from the Blue River basin and Ranch CreeklMeadow Creek rights near Fraser where water was delivered through the Moffat Tunnel. With.the water rights secured the necessary physical plant was constructed. The intake structure, located at the headgate of the Petersburg Ditch near Union Avenue and the South Platte River was one of the first structures built. The water was pumped from there to the treatment plant, located at South Windemere Street and West Layton Avenue, The plant had a capacity of25 MGD when it began operation in Apri~ 1952. In 1952, when the City began operation ofits water system, there were 6,185 taps on the system. By 1961 the number of taps had grown to 13,500. During the 1960's, as the water system grew at a rather rapid rate, the City began experiencing operational problems. To address these problems the City constructed its second water treatment plant, the 7 MGD capacity Bear Creek Treatment Plant. In 1965, the City also constructed the 6,000 acre-foot McLellan Reservoir near County Line Road and Santa Fe Drive, Also in 1965 the Southeast Englewood Water District terminated its contract with Englewood and agreed to a supply contract witl:t the Denver Water Beard. This constitutedTlo~s of 4, 700 " taps from the system or about 35.% of the total water taps at the time. This was a major financial challenge for Englewood during this time of system. expansion. To help pay for many of the system's recent upgrades, the City entered into agreements with AMAX, Thornton and Mission Viejo. The Allen Filter Plant was upgraded in 1977, and then again in 1980 to 34 MGD. With the upgrade of the Allen Plant the Bear Creek Plant's operation has been suspended. The City has also undertaken a program to upgrade its water system to replace older pipe and facilities with new equipment, pipe and plant. Englewood Conservation Plan Page 2