AWWA MTC53943

The Town of Julesburg, Colorado discovered a nitrate problem in its sole-sourcewater supply in 1989. The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment(CDPHE) issued several Notices of Violation and an Enforcement Order to the Townto bring its water supply into compliance with the nitrate maximum contaminantlevel (MCL). Jacobson Helgoth Consultants, Inc. was hired to provide consultationfor improving the quality of the Town's water. The Town decided that improvingoverall water quality in addition to controlling nitrate levels was of concern.This was in response to high levels of total dissolved solids (TDS), hardness andsulfates found in laboratory analysis of the water supply. Several alternativesfor improving the water quality for the Town were investigated. These includedpoint-of-use (POU) treatment devices, a central reverse osmosis (RO) treatmentfacility, a central ion exchange (IE) treatment facility and an alternative watersupply. The POU and alternative water supply options were eliminated from furtherconsideration because of excess costs. The central IE treatment facility was themost cost effective alternative for controlling nitrate concentrations. However,this option could not reduce the TDS, hardness and sulfate concentrations toacceptable levels. Therefore, it was recommended that the Town select a centraltreatment facility using RO technology designed for nitrate reduction andsoftening. This option was shown to meet the requirements of the Safe DrinkingWater Act as well as improve the overall water quality to acceptable levels. Theproject was designed in several phases. These phases included the construction oftwo new water supply wells, the procurement of the RO equipment, the constructionof the water treatment facility and the construction of a ground level waterstorage reservoir. Construction of the water treatment facility commenced in Mayof 2000 and was completed in December of 2000. Start-up of the facility isscheduled for January of 2001. Includes tables.