Pinery Water & Wastewater District

Water Supply . . .

The majority of the water we provide (around 75%) comes from shallow wells along Cherry Creek. These wells are around 70 feet deep and withdraw water from an aquifer along the creek. From the surface, Cherry Creek doesn’t look like much, but the alluvial aquifer is about a quarter of a mile wide and around 70 feet deep. This aquifer is recharged by snow and rain so this is a renewable supply of water. The water rights that the District owns date back to the 1870’s and have produced well for us during the recent drought.

The Pinery also owns a significant amount of water rights in the Denver Basin aquifer. This water is in the deep Denver Basin aquifers, and it is a non-renewable water supply. The District’s rights in this aquifer will provide water for many years to come, but development of this water supply is expensive. For example, the cost to drill and equip a well into the Arapahoe formation of the Denver Basin exceeds $1,000,000. These wells are typically around 2000 feet deep and the cost to pump water from that depth is also expensive.