WSP06649 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

r(>Water Dep'artment Scrambles To Satisfy Metropolitan Thirst - '< .- , ::l I I ~ 8y JUDITH BRIMBERG Den..... Poet Stan WriMM" 'If there had been no lavm- watering restrictions, the demand would have exceeded capacity by 70 million gallons.' R,n,Wile}'. the Water Department's manager or gener.... planning Denver and other deparlment'served areas were observing f.he. familiar diamonds- squares-and-circles routine of e\'ery third day lawn watering. "If there had been no lawn-watering re-- slrictions, the demand would have exceed. ed capaCIty by 70 million gallons," esti, males R.D. Wiley. the department's mana- ger of general planning. raced with that increased demand for waler, for the past six summers the depart- ment has re~tricted waler consumption be. cause it didn't have sufficient treatment fa. cilities to provide all the water its 1 million customers might have used without man- datory conservation. The ooard serves about 60 percent of the metropolitan area '5 population. Ttw department 'Saw the Jo'oolhills proJel'l. fin.1 approved by Oem'er voters in 1973. as the answer to its water treatment nt>t'ds. Originally to be completed by 1m, the project was delayed by lawsuits and op- position by environmentalists and compet- ing water interel>1S. But the department won In the end. and the fin;t, $171 million phase of the Foothills project goes Ulto full operalion this spring when the FooUulls Water Treatment Plant is opened. That will add 125 million gallons of water a day to the department's curnmt treatment capacity of about 500 million gal- lons. The department originally wanted to lm' ple-ment additional treatment capacity of 500 million gallons a day all at once, but lawsuit settlements required the treatment plant be built in stages, The entire project includes the new Strontia Springs Dam and ReservolJ" on the South Platte Rive:r and a 126-inch tunnt'l. conduit that will deliver raw water to the treatment plant 2S miles southwest of Den. ver. But even though the 125 million gallons or new treatment capacity a day will come on line early this spring, in May the depart. ment plans to begin work on the second., m million phase. which will expand treatment capacity by another 125 million gallons a day by 198ft The U .5. Fore~t Service and the Bureau Plea" See WATER on 2.B - j.' :'.;.- . Treatment Plant Additions Plant c~city and demand -~ I I In what seems like a nt'\.er-endlng ra('e to 31ay ahead of the metropolitan area's ~ver'lJlcreasi.ng thir:)l, the Denv(>r Water Departmt'nt this spring will inaugurate the first phase of Its ma<;SlH' )>'oothills Wat1'r Treatment Plant - only to ~gin ....ork on a second pha.!;e. Area residents. bombarded With exhorta. tions to conserve water and subjected in ~t summers to every.third-dcl.y wat(>ring rel>trictions, may wonder if the department ever will ....in that ract', In the short run the department thinks it can. thanks to the additJonaltreate9 water capacity provided by the various genera. tions of }o'oothills. But the longer run, startUlg in 1986, has department offiC'ials concerned. because at that point demand for water may equallhe department's raw water 3Llpplies. "It could be a difficult period for us," says Water Ot'plU"lment Manager Bill !\.fil- ler. He pointed out that wh1le alternatives are ~lng studied, the suburb... have warned for four or ri\.e years that unless water- supply problems are solved, Denver will only provlde water ror those It currently serves. Even m the past, the department has come clOS(' to losmg the race, at least for a da~'. On July 23, 1982. demand rose to 495 million gallons - very dose to the 500 mil. lion-gallon peak capacity - even lhou~h ......... ESTlMA.TED MAXIMUM WA.TER DEMAND r-n MAXIMUM PLANT D......LJ CAPACITY 1000 900 ~ m u - BOO .. 1i 0 ... ~ c . E 700 " ...1 .. co . .. (; . .. 600 z z ~ 0 0 0 c 0 ~ ~ ~ Q 0 .* <5 <5 <5 E 500 0 0 0 oL... ~ ~ ~ E " N ~ ~ .. F .. ~ ~ .. . ~z ~ ~ ~ 400 . ~o ~ ~ ~ . . z- ~ ~ ~ V ~~ ~ ~ ~ 00 0 0 0 00 0 0 0 300 ~~ ~ ~ ~ 1975 19BO 1990 1995 2000 1977 1983 1998 Foothills treatment system will increase water supply as indicated by the stair. slep portion of the chart. The largely voluntary conservation program is ex- The o.w.. Post I John Gold pected to keep demand to the lower of the two dotted lines. Upper line Shows estimated consumption without orga.- nized conservation programs. I J , I I -~ ~