When it comes to water, you have to own it to use it. Castle Rock owns water rights that date back to the 1860s. Part of our long-term water strategy is to start tapping into more of those rights to enhance our current water supply. Our goal is to use more of our water rights Just because we own water doesn’t mean it is readily usable. We need to build a system to collect more of it, treat it and deliver it, so you can use it. The Plum Creek Water Purification Facility will help us do that. Scheduled to open in 2013, the facility will capture and treat water to which the Town currently owns rights -- up to 4 million gallons per day at first, and up to 12 million gallons per day in the future.

Renewable water for our future needs
These renewable water sources will be used at the facility: junior and senior tributary water rights on East and West Plum Creek; reclaimable water released to East Plum Creek; lawn irrigation return flows; and future imported surface water.

When the facility begins operation this year, the Town will essentially transition from a mostly nonrenewable water supply to 35 percent renewable water from sources like those listed above. Ultimately, this project has the potential to capture, treat and deliver up to 9,000 acre-feet of water per year to the Town at build out.

This project is comprised of several components, including alluvial well fields along East Plum Creek, water transmission piping and a water purification facility (see project map).

Treatment technologies to be implemented with the facility will include chemical pretreatment, flocculation / sedimentation, greensand filtration, membrane filtration and post-filter chemical treatment.

This project will be funded through existing certificates of participation. The Utilities Department budgeted $22.6 million for the Plum Creek Water Purification Facility, associated alluvial wells and pipeline.