Liquid Gold
By Dagny McKinley
Water—or liquid gold as it's called in Routt County—is necessary for the survival of humans, wildlife and plants. With fifty-eight inches of moisture a year falling across Buffalo Pass to Rabbit Ears Pass and twenty-four inches in the valley, having enough water has never been a question for Steamboat, especially after the epic snowfall last ski season. However, with the population growing by an average of three percent each year and developments that may see close to 2,600 new homes, each using 146,000 gallons of water a year, water supply has become a hot topic. So, does Steamboat have enough water for the envisioned expansion over the next ten or twenty years?
How it Works:
In 1972 when Steamboat was a young community, two districts were established to manage Steamboat's water resources: the City, which includes downtown and areas west of town, and the Mt. Werner Water District (MWWD) to deal with the resort population or mountain area. While each district is managed separately, both use the same filtration and wastewater treatment facilities. The capacity of these facilities to treat water determines the limits of available water. In 2007 more than a billion gallons of water were split fairly evenly between MWWD, at 52% and the City with 48%.
In order to provide water, the City and MWWD have procured rights to various water sources. The main resources are Fish Creek Reservoir with the City owning the most senior rights to 4,167 acre-feet (one acre foot equals 325,851 gallons, or the amount of water that covers an acre of land to a depth of one foot) and Long Lake where the City owns all rights to 396 acre-feet. In 1996 Fish Creek Reservoir was expanded to help keep up with growing water needs. Any further enlargement will damage watershed areas that would be difficult to compensate for, so current capacity is our future capacity.
Additionally, the Yampa River is harnessed to provide extra water in the summer when irrigation needs spike water usage to three times the normal level. In 1998, the Yampa River Well Filtration Plant was constructed with a peak capacity to filter approximately 4.55 million gallons a day. Summer demand reached 3.317 million gallons in 2007.
Steamboat is fortunate to be at the top of the water chain. Because we are tapping water from the source, we don't have to worry about contamination such as hormones from medications and birth control entering our water supply. Being in the mountains, our water takes two forms, liquid and solid. The snowpack generally remains frozen until the end of June when runoff begins. It provides more than half the annual water supply. As water rushes towards town, a portion of it is held in Fish Creek Reservoir and Long Lake, while the rest moves down in streams and water runoff which then enters the Fish Creek Filtration plant through an eighteen-inch pipe.
At the filtration plant, water undergoes a three-step process, including flocculation, sedimentation and multimedia filtration. Flocculation is the process of attracting organic particles with a negative charge to make a larger particle called floc. This process uses aluminum sulfate and polymer. Soda ash is added to achieve the appropriate pH balance and prevent pipes from corroding. Fluoride is added to keep teeth strong.
After flocculation, the water is placed through sedimentation that helps with settling the floc from the water. The settled water is filtered through anthracite coal, silica sand, garnet sand, coarse garnet and support gravel. After filtration the water is checked for turbidity, a measure of how clear the water is and hence if the floc particles are removed. If there are too many floc particles after filtration, the water is flushed back into the beginning of the treatment process and retreated. Then the multimedia filter is flushed clean with treated water in a process known as backwashing. Chlorine is added during the last phase to kill any remaining bacteria and keep drinking water compliant with federal drinking water standards. The treated water is moved to one of six storage tanks, the largest holding two million gallons of water. Every year, 285,000 samples are taken and tested by a third party; that's a sample being taken about every two minutes.
In 2000, MWWD reached their filtered water capacity, so four additional filter bays were added. The District paid for two bays to come online in 2001. At that time four bays were owned by MWWD, four by the City and two were unfinished. In 2007 the City completed piping for the two remaining bays and leased them back to the District. There are now ten filter bays with a capacity of 7.5 million gallons per day. In the future six more filter bays could be added to reach design capacity. Beyond that, there would need to be additions to the chemical feed as well as the filtration capacity.
After the water is used-two to seven gallons for each toilet flush, five to ten gallons for each minute you soak in the shower, ten gallons in the dishwasher and forty-five in the washing machine-that water gets piped down to the wastewater treatment plant. Ironically treating waste is more organic than treating the water we drink. First, solids are removed totaling about 1,500 pounds a year. From there, waste water enters a million-gallon collection tank where protozoa, bacteria and rotifers literally eat the sewage. The biggest expense to treating the water is getting air to these critters, at a cost of approximately $160,000 a year. The bugs cluster together and pull pollutants to the bottom of the tank. Then the bugs are pumped out of the water and back to the tanks to eat more sewage. After five days the bugs are considered old and are removed and put in tanks where they cannibalize each other and turn into biosolids. At this stage the biosolids are spun in a centrifuge to separate them from the water. Mixed with wood chips these biosolids are applied to farms and gardens as fertilizer.
The effluent or liquid product is treated by ultraviolet light to disinfect the water and make it clean enough to pump back into the river. At one time effluent was treated with chlorine, but fish are extremely sensitive to that chemical, so in order to keep them safe from spills or over-treatment, UV light is used.
Every person uses close to 100 gallons of water a day. At five million gallons a day, the wastewater treatment plant can treat enough water for 50,000 people. In 2007 the plant treated one billion gallons of water. Each plant has limited capacity. Snow runoff in heavy years combined with population growth could push the limits of the plant. “The solution to pollution is dilution,” says Gilbert Anderson, Plant Superintendent for the City. Right now the Yampa is a big enough source to dilute treated waste.
Can we meet the need?
As growth occurs, the water district has had to expand water pipes. For example, Whistler Road was expanded from an eight-inch to a twelve-inch main during the summer of 2008. But even as we expand do we have the supply? The average maximum daily demand for the City is 2.95 million gallons a day (mgd) and 3.27 mgd for the District, equaling 6.22 mgd, or approximately 3,000 acre feet annually. Steamboat's water system is estimated to yield between 7,000 and 8,000 acre-feet per year. During 2002, the driest year yet recorded, Fish Creek Basin yielded 7,000 acre-feet of water.
Twenty years from now water consumption is expected to jump to 7,206 acre-feet annually. Remember, Fish Creek Basin has yielded up to 8,000 acre-feet in a single year. Yampa River wells contribute 2,000 more acre-feet per year. The City also has additional resources to consider. The Elk River watershed could yield between 1,000 and 3,000 acre-feet depending on what storage facilities are developed. However, the Elk River is only a reliable water source from April to June and as of now the City has no storage facilities. The City also has rights that include Haymaker Golf Course Rights, Soda Creek Water Rights and Spring Creek Water Rights. The City and District lease rights in Stagecoach Reservoir and Yamcolo Reservoir. Other watersheds have been explored but none of them were up to environmental standards for drinking water. The Fish Creek Filtration plant can process 7.5 mgd and can be expanded to filter 12mgd with additional bays. Beyond that, expansion can take years to complete with time needed to secure water rights and for legal and environmental issues that may be encountered, not to mention the time it takes for construction. Yampa Valley well construction can be expanded to accommodate 3.5mgd to help meet peak usage.
"In terms of the future of Mt. Werner, we're in good shape; however, a lot depends on what happens west of town," says Jay Gallagher, General Manager of Mount Werner Water, “We have enough water to deal with the projected growth for the next twenty years.” While new developments will have a huge impact on water usage, developers aren't just being given water. “They have to bring something to the table,” says Gallagher. That can come in the form of a financial investment in order to be able to expand water capacity and upkeep systems or bringing senior water rights to a source. The Ski Time Square base area, One Steamboat Place and Wildhorse are all developments that will impact our water resources. Any money that is invested and isn't currently being used will be put into a reserve so residents won't be taxed further if expansion is needed. “We have to plan and build the required infrastructure, such as water storage, to support the future water needs of this community,” says Philo Shelton, Public Works Director.
Threats to the Water System:
Being able to provide water to a growing population isn't the only concern. Environmental changes are also a threat to our water supply system. Drought years could pose problems as could forest fires. With fire comes erosion which increases turbidity levels. Landslides release increased levels of manganese into the water supply. Sediment can affect water temperatures and kill fish and other aquatic species. The Hayman Fire in South Platte clogged the water treatment plant with mineral components that jeopardized the plant. (Downstream from the Beetle Kill by Emily Krall in this issue also discusses the impact of environmental degradation on water supplies.)
Even though Steamboat uses the Yampa River mainly to help meet irrigation needs, that water flows through town and is used in downstream towns for drinking water. Oil, pesticides and insecticides, soaps and cleaners, trash debris and paint all contaminate the water. Every year more fish are being found with toxic levels of waste in them. Construction also adds sediment and can cause erosion from clearing trees. (Laura Blazey's article on preserving water quality during construction provides practical methods for preventing harmful runoff from construction sites. And Matt Mulford's Paved Paradise offers a hard surface solution for pavement that actually cleans and filters runoff water.)
Animal waste also contributes pollution to rivers and streams. The dog population of Steamboat rests around 10,000. Animal waste leaching into water can lead to algae blooms which deplete oxygen and kill fish stock. The best way to dispose of animal waste is to flush it down the toilet or seal it in a bag and put it in the garbage.
What can we do?
There are a million ways to conserve water. Water used for landscaping is tripling water usage. By cutting back summer water usage by only ten percent, an entire filtration bay is freed up. Each bay costs the MWWD, the City and customers $750,000 to construct.
An average home uses 13,000 gallons of water on the grass. Kentucky bluegrass is notorious for sucking up large amounts of water. An easy way to reduce usage includes installing a moisture sensor into the landscape so lawns are only watered when they really need it. Many lawns are over-watered. Watering between the hours of 8:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m. makes sure the needed moisture gets absorbed by the lawn instead of evaporating. Up to thirty percent of water can be lost if lawns are treated mid-day. Planting native grasses and shrubs prevents the need for large amounts of watering. This doesn't mean rock gardens. There are native grasses that are drought tolerant. (See Water-Wise Landscaping by CJ Mucklow in this issue for more ideas about landscaping for water conservation.)
Managed residential properties use 67% of water while commercial properties take up 22% and residential users account for only 9% of water usage. Being a resort town, the Water District has started an outreach program encouraging motels and hotels to conserve water. Hotels or motels that include tags asking guests to reuse towels and linens receive a certificate of merit. Because of the amount of water that evaporates from fountains and waterfalls when they run, the MWWD Board doesn't allow water features in new buildings.
While there's enough water to last projected estimates of growth in Steamboat for the next two decades, there are always variables that can come into play. The best bet for ensuring a steady, clean supply of water is to conserve. There's a reason water is called liquid gold. It's time to protect our precious resources so future generations will be as rich in crystalline water as we are. 
Features
The Water Issue
Building on the Water
Don't Use It Don't Lose It
The
Hydrological Effects
of Beetle Kill
Water Quality in the
Yampa River Basin
Departments
The Green Scene
How Many Miles per Gallon Does this House Get?
Builder Perspectives
Decor & Style
Real Estate
Foreclosure in Steamboat Springs: Emerging Business Opportunities
Artist Profile
Archive
Winter 2007
Archive
Summer 2008