On Saturday June 8, we hosted our second annual Water Treatment Plant Open House and BBQ. Our staff lead tours of our state-of-the-art water treatment plant and answered questions, while local vendors – Woodhill Small Batch Barbecue, Crumbs Bakery and Kona Ice – provided delicious food and treats. There were also games for the kids.

During the event we received some interesting questions I’d like to address here in case others have the same question.

If we purchase water from Aurora, does our water come all the way back to Roxborough from Aurora?

We have a permanent lease of raw water from Aurora that we treat at the Larry D. Moore Water Treatment Plant. Aurora’s water supply starts at snow high in the Holy Cross Wilderness area and flows through a series of reservoirs, streams, tunnels and pipes to Strontia Springs Reservoir at the upper end of Waterton Canyon. From there it flows through a tunnel to Rampart Reservoir, which is next to Roxborough Park Road going up to the State Park right across from our offices. Aurora has two large transmission lines that convey water from Rampart Reservoir to the City, and we have two connections to those pipelines at the water treatment plant. We’re incredibly fortunate to have such a great, high quality water supply and a new, state-of-the-art treatment plant that provides safe, clean, great-tasting water to Roxborough’s residents.

Does RWSD maintain a disinfection residual in all of the distribution pipes throughout the entire system?

RWSD uses ultra-violet (UV) light as the primary disinfectant at the water treatment plant. This is a great way to disinfect the treated water without adding chemicals. Just before the water leaves the treatment plant we use small amounts of chlorine mixed with tiny amounts of ammonia to create chloramines that maintain a disinfection residual throughout our distribution system. We also test the water throughout the distribution system to verify that we are maintaining that disinfection residual and your water remains safe to drink.

Why does my home water filter turn brown and get clogged?

Our high-quality mountain water supply contains naturally occurring iron and manganese at very low levels well below water quality standards, and we routinely test both the raw and finished water to monitor those low levels of naturally occurring minerals. The small concentration of minerals in the finished water are perfectly safe for you and your family to drink, but if you choose to install a home filtration system, they will collect on your filter. This means your home filter is doing exactly what it was designed to do. It is critically important that you maintain your home filter per your manufacturer’s recommendations, because a poorly maintain filter can actually degrade the quality of the water at your tap.

All of us at RWSD are incredibly proud of the work we do to provide you with safe, clean, great-tasting water, and we’re always happy to answer your questions. Please just call or e-mail any time and we will respond as quickly as possible.

Thanks to all our great residents who came out to the open house and BBQ and gave us a chance to show off the community’s water treatment plant and to meet many of the residents.