Managing the future of our water supply

   In late November, the Rocky Mountain News ran a series of articles about the water supply for Douglas County and Southern Arapahoe County. The articles were well-researched and reasonably well-written. However, they did present a rather desperate view of our future, and they lumped all of the water providers in the area together. Here are some facts about the water supply for the Pinery Water and Wastewater District.

Where do we get our water?

   Our water comes from two sources. A significant portion (more than 75%) of our water supply comes from surface water rights that the District owns on Cherry Creek. This is a renewable water supply that we withdraw through wells along Cherry Creek. Our rights to this water date back to the 1870’s and with the exception of 2002, these rights have produced well for us in all years. During the drought of 2002, these rights were unavailable to us for much of the summer because of the needs of more senior rights downstream on the Platte River. We met our demand during that period by relying more heavily on our Denver Basin deep wells.

   The other sources of water for our District are Denver Basin deep wells. We depend on this groundwater source for 25% of our water on an annual basis, and this aquifer was the subject of the Rocky Mountain News stories. The Denver Basin consists of four aquifers, from top to bottom these are: the Dawson, Denver, Arapahoe, and Larime Fox Hills. The District owns about 12,000 acre-feet of water rights in the Denver Basin. That means that we have the right to withdraw 12,000 acre-feet per year for 100 years. The Rocky Mountain News stories correctly pointed out that while these are rights that we own, we likely could not withdraw our full water right due to the limitations of the aquifer. We have never planned on relying on our Denver Basin water rights to meet our needs. When all of our District is built out as zoned, we will need about 1,200 acre-feet annually of water from the Denver Basin. This is less than 10 percent of our rights to use this water source.

What about water reuse?

   We operate an approved augmentation plan on Cherry Creek. This plan allows us to reuse all of our water by exchange. Put simply, as we discharge treated water from our wastewater treatment plant, we create a right to withdraw more water from Cherry Creek.

What about the Future?

   We have been actively working in several areas to provide for our future water supply.

• Obtaining easements for future well sites to allow us to drill more wells into the Denver Basin as the productivity of our existing wells declines.

• We have been active with the development community and Douglas County planners to reduce the density of development in our District to achieve a better match of the available water resources to the population to be served.

• Reduce customer demand through water conservation.

• Participate in the development of a surface water supply for Douglas County through the South Metro Water Supply Study Board Conjunctive Use Study.

   The South Metro Conjunctive Use Study was the subject of the last day of the Rocky Mountain News articles. This study is not yet complete, but we expect the final report out in early December. The study is very significant because it represents an historic level of cooperation among the South Metro water providers, Denver Water and the Colorado River Water Conservation District. The plan is to bring wet year water into Douglas County to take pressure off the groundwater resource. If implemented, this conjunctive use program will significantly increase the life of the Denver Basin water in Douglas County.

Drought Still a Threat But Conservation is Helping

   Thank you for conserving water! Our customers can pat themselves on the back for another great year of conservation effort. This year we delivered 15% less water during our summer peak than the year prior. Projecting forward to the end of the year, we estimate that we will deliver 12% less water for 2003 compared to 2002. We achieved all this even though the district is growing, with about 120 new taps installed for the year.

   The weather certainly helped out during the spring with a massive snowfall in March and lots of rain and snow in June. That month we had 21 days of precipitation, totaling 5.2 inches. Compare that to June of 2002, when we had just .73 inches.

   As a result many Front Range cities relaxed their watering restrictions (ours were already voluntary), and residents began to debate whether the drought had ended. It was too soon to tell. Our gains evaporated with long dry spells in the summer and fall months. October was the third-driest on record, spawning wildfires in Larimer and Douglas counties.

   In the Pinery we rely on surface water delivered through shallow wells along Cherry Creek for more than 75% of our water. If the snow pack levels fall low enough, our right to use Cherry Creek water can be restricted by users with rights senior to ours, which happened in 2002. Overall, forecasts indicate a close-to-normal year in Colorado, but the West has been in a drought for so long that one normal year of precipitation is not enough to correct the damage.

   Once again, we’d like to thank you, for conserving water. Conservation is an important part of the plan for meeting our long-term water supply needs. We need to continue curbing watering habits, as conservation diligence is an important part of the long term water supply for Colorado.

Bingham Lake Leak is Fixed with Ingenious Cost-Saving Repair
Draining lake avoided - saving money, water, and animal life.

   A leak in the outlet pipe in Bingham Lake has been fixed for a fraction of the cost of our original estimate. The leak was in a hard-to-reach location under the dam and posed the possibility that we would have to drain the lake to make the repairs at a cost of several hundred thousand dollars. Instead, we have fixed the leak using an unusual and much less expensive “slip line” method for just $60,000, which is well within our normal maintenance budget. The repair involved slipping a smaller pipe inside the existing pipe before and aft of the leak and sealing up the space between the pipes with grout. The repair was a success, saving the lake’s water, the lives of the fish and the enormous expense of draining and refilling the lake.

   Fortunately, the state engineer’s office determined that the leak was not threatening the stability of the dam, and we had time to research other repair methods.

   In April 2003 we contracted with Joseph A. Cesare & Associates, Inc., a geotechnical engineering firm in Centennial. Joe Cesare said his company felt conventional repair methods were unworkable or risky because of the leak’s inaccessible location. His team then came up with the idea of the slip line repair based on the way repairs are made to oil wells.

   The repairs were made in November, with Inland Marine Services of Aurora serving as the contractor. A service camera inside the pipe guided and documented the work.

   Measurements show that the repair was a success and water flow from the outlet has returned to the normal minimums. “As soon as we got the slip line installed the leak dropped from 50 gallons a minute to just a few gallons a minute,” Cesare said. “The outlet system works just as well as before and the best part is it’s a safe structure. I was really happy we got it fixed,” Cesare said.

Staff Profiles

     As District Manager for the past 6 years, Charlie Krogh has overseen District operations from a variety of directions. Reporting to the District’s five-member elected Board, Charlie spends a good portion of his time implementing policy and directives established by the Board. It is his job to manage the District finances and planning.
A “give direction and get out of the way” kind of manager, Charlie works with District staff to plan, design and build new facilities and help evaluate the maintenance and replacement of our aging infrastructure.

   He also looks after the District’s interests by participating as a Board member himself in various organizations (Cherry Creek Basin Water Quality Authority, Douglas County Water Resources Authority, and South Metro Water Supply Study Board).

   As busy as he is, he still enjoys time golfing, snowboarding, mountain biking and hiking with his wife, Beth, and his sons, Kevin (a junior Math major at Harvey Mudd College in Claremont, CA) and Kyle (a freshman cadet 4th class at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs).

We’re sure glad he says he likes variety!

   Bill Morgan has been Assistant District Manager for six years. Much of Bill’s time is spent reviewing submittal plans, designs and doing project management for water supply projects in the District. You could call him the District’s “Quality Assurance Department” as he works to resolve issues to keep projects moving, completed to District standards, and within budget.

   The other part of Bill’s days are spent collecting and preparing information for budget projections, Board consideration or for providing guidance to developers, other engineers or contractors.

   When he’s not “assisting” the District, Bill spends time assisting his kids with their active lives (which include basketball, Boy Scouts, band, swim team, snowboarding, golf and family vacations), keeping his household running, and assisting his aging parents. Whenever he finds time, (“rarely”, says Bill), he enjoys hiking, backpacking, travel, tennis, and cross-country skiing.

Water Quality Corner

Have you ever wondered to yourself, “What is that whitish film on my dishes, shower door, fixtures or on the soil of my potted plants?”

Answer: Drinking water contains many minerals and non-toxic chemicals. Minerals that remain on the glass or shower door when the water evaporates cause the spots that appear on air-dried glassware. Calcium is probably the biggest culprit in causing these spots or that whitish film. Calcium is naturally occurring in our drinking water and makes up the biggest part of the water’s total hardness count. Commercial products are available that allow water to drain from glassware more completely after washing. After watering your plants, the water in the soil evaporates, leaving behind a whitish layer on the soil. This layer can even be worse if a fertilizer is mixed with the water. Using distilled water can help avoid this problem. Just remember to use a slow release balanced fertilizer to replace the minerals not in distilled water.

Question: “With all the minerals in our water does drinking water contain any calories, fat, sugars, caffeine or cholesterol?”

Answer: No.

How Secure is Our Water System?

   Is drinking water subject to possible sabotage? Sure, especially in light of the events of the past few years. Is it likely? No. A District representative visits each of our facilities on a daily basis, checking on the operation and the security of that site. However, we want to solicit your help in keeping our systems safe. If you observe any suspicious behavior or vehicles parked around any of our facilities, please, don’t hesitate to call 303-841-2797 and we will check it out. District employees drive white trucks with Pinery Water & Wastewater District decals on them. Thanks for helping to keep our system protected.

Changes in the District Boundaries

   The Board of Directors of the District recently voted to include into our District 160 acres of property into the District known as the Scott Road property. This property is bordered on three sides by our District and it is zoned for 64 homes. The property is located west of Cherry Creek at the end of Bayou Gulch Road. The District already has a sewer line through the property and we are well positioned to provide service. Factors considered in including this property into the District were the water rights that they would provide the District, and the alternatives that were available for service. The most likely alternative for service to this property was for it to develop on individual well and septic systems. This property is in a sensitive area along Scott Gulch and septic systems in this location have the potential to impact the quality of our Cherry Creek water supply. Considering all of these factors, the Board determined that inclusion was in the best interests of the District.

Upgrades of Water System Underway

   Much of our water system was built in the early 1970s. In the next several months we will be working around the older portions of our District to make much needed improvements.

• We will be repairing the roofs on storage tanks 2 and 3. These tanks are located along North Pinery Parkway, and on Thunderbird Road.
• Completing a new water main at the intersection of North Pinery Parkway and Parker Road.
• Replacing pressure reducing valves at several locations in our system.

Please be alert to our work crews and obey the traffic controls that they have in place.

Wastewater Treatment Plant Expansion Update:
Ready for Construction Bids

   This past November, all plans, drawings and documents for Phase 1 expansion were completed and went into final preparation for Contract/Bid Documents. Currently, the Phase 1 expansion is going thru the Bid Phase. The Bid Phase begins with an advertisement to bidders that the District is planning an expansion and taking bids from Contractors. Interested contractors will purchase a set of Contract /Bid Documents from the project engineering company, MWH. One day has been scheduled for potential bidders to walk through the work-site before they bid. Bids are formally submitted to the District and are due by January 9, 2004. Bids will be opened and the contract will be awarded to the lowest qualified bidder. If all goes well, contract award is set for late January 2004. Construction of Phase 1 is slated to begin in March 2004, with a completion time in 11 months.