Broomfield: City and County manager pulls raw water pipeline from council consideration

From the Broomfield Enterprise (Joe Rubino):

The project, presented to council Tuesday, would have created a roughly half-mile pipeline along the western bank of Glasser Reservoir that could divert water coming into the reservoir directly to Broomfield’s water treatment plant. The project was designed to address concerns about the taste of drinking water from Glasser, and as a incremental step in the construction of the proposed Broomfield Reservoir project. City and County Manager George Di Ciero removed the project from council consideration Tuesday without it being put to the vote, stating city staff would reexamine the project.

Council raised concerns that the project was not designed in the most cost-effective manner, that it addressed only minor issues of water taste, and it was part of a Broomfield Reservoir project, which has an uncertain future. “I understand that if we are going to do a Broomfield Reservoir project, this is part of that project” Mayor Pro Tem Walt Spader said. “(But) until that gets resolved, I’m not that gung-ho on spending a million dollars on a pipeline for a reservoir we may never build.”[...]

A pipeline was necessary to allow a portion of the city’s drinking water, being pumped from Carter Lake outside of Loveland, to skip a stay in Glasser Reservoir if needed, according to a staff memo. Carter Lake, whose water is pumped to Broomfield via a pipeline owned by various entities, including Broomfield, provides Broomfield with 58 percent of its raw water. The remaining 42 percent is provided by Denver Water, according to Broomfield Director of Public Works Alan King. In recent summers, most notably 2010, Glasser was home to large blooms of blue green algae, King said. When the blooms died off, they created the chemical byproduct Geosmin. While nontoxic and safe for human consumption, Geosmin can be detected in drinking water in even small concentrations, leading to a “earthy” or “musty” taste and aroma, according to city staff…

Cost estimates for Broomfield Reservoir, designed to help the city meet its projected future water needs, are between $63 million and $100 million, and it would be the largest public works project ever undertaken in Broomfield. Construction was supposed to begin in 2009, but bonds for the project were not issued that year or last, because of a moratorium on capital improvement projects.

More South Platte River basin coverage here.

Broomfield Reservoir update

Broomfield is finally doing something with all the water they bought last century. They’re moving ahead with construction of Broomfield Reservoir, according to a report from Michael Davidson writing for the Boulder Daily Camera. From the article:

The reservoir will have a surface area of 100 acres and be about 75-feet deep when filled. It will be bordered by Northwest Parkway and Sheridan parkways, and the Wildgrass neighborhood will be on its south shore. It will be an enormous effort. The city estimates 4 million cubic yards of dirt will be moved across Sheridan Parkway through specially built underpasses. It will take 200,000 “scraper trips” to move the dirt. Construction could last about two years, Arthur said.

The city intended to start work on the reservoir in September, but work was delayed after the initial cost estimate hit $93.5 million. The plans were turned over to independent engineers to try to find places where money could be saved, Assistant City and County Manager Kevin Standbridge said.

The changes they made and a sharp drop in the cost of construction materials has brought the projected cost down to about $75 million, Standbridge said. But it might be less than that. Three construction companies made bids for the contract, City and County Manager George Di Ciero told City Council on Tuesday. A winner hasn’t been picked, but Di Ciero said all of the contractors were willing to work for much less than the city expected.

More Coyote Gulch coverage here.