AWWA WQTC56933

The City of Boulder operates two water treatment plants: the Betasso WTP which treats water from Silver Lake and Barker Reservoir, and the Boulder Reservoir WTP which treats water from the Boulder Feeder Canal (BFC) and Boulder Reservoir. The City's long-term strategy for drinking water production is to baseload the Boulder Reservoir WTP at its production capacity to reduce reliance on the higher-cost water that supplies the Betasso WTP. This will place added stress on the operation of the Boulder Reservoir WTP to meet water quality and quantity objectives, and place more importance on the source water quality received at the Reservoir WTP The City of Boulder Open Space and Real Estate and the Boulder County Open Space offices have proposed to open a recreational trail adjacent to the BFC along its entire length. New sources of contamination can be introduced into the BFC as a result of trail activities, degrading the quality of water received by the Reservoir WTP. The Boulder Reservoir WTP will need to meet the treatment challenges posed by its future operation as a baseload facility and the likely degradation in water quality due to trail development along the BFC. A critical question is whether the Boulder Reservoir WTP is sufficiently robust to meet these future water quality and treatment challenges. Protecting public health from pathogenic organisms is the "critical mission" of public water supplies like the City of Boulder Water Department. Understanding source water vulnerability to pathogens will inform the City about the current success of- and need for source water protection measures. The objective of this study included an assessment of the existing and future source water vulnerability levels for the Boulder Reservoir and the Boulder Feeder Canal specifically with respect to pathogen load increases that could be expected with the development of a trail along the BFC. Includes tables, figures.