Castle Rock Water outlines regional plan to boost renewable supply, promote 'Colorado scape' and increase reuse

Castle Rock Water Director Mark Marlow told the Douglas County Water Commission that Castle Rock is pursuing a regional approach to reduce reliance on Denver Basin groundwater and increase renewable water supplies, using storage, reuse, aquifer storage and expanded partnerships with neighboring providers.

Marlow said Castle Rock Water already serves some unincorporated areas of Douglas County and is pursuing projects to connect more developments to renewable supplies. "All water is reused. We all know that," Marlow said, describing reuse as a core part of the utility’s supply strategy.

The utility is pursuing five main lines of work: regional partnerships to share infrastructure and costs (including participation in the WISE project and agreements with Parker Water and others); increasing storage capacity (including new and expanded reservoirs and ownership shares in Reuter‑Hess and Chatfield storage); aquifer storage and recovery (ASR) using municipal wells; expanding water purification/reuse capacity at the Plum Creek Water Purification Facility; and demand reduction through conservation and landscaping regulations.

Marlow provided several program details during the presentation. Castle Rock has taken service for Bell Mountain Ranch and provides water/wastewater service to the Macanta development; the utility is building new tanks and pump stations and has redrilled wells and upgraded treatment at acquired systems. The Plum Creek purification facility is being expanded from 6 million gallons per day to 12 million gallons per…