Rueter-Hess Reservoir History: Part 7 - A Key to a Renewable Water Future
Figure 1: Schematic of PWSD's Water Reuse System.
Rueter-Hess Reservoir has become a key to both developing local renewable water resources, as well as allowing the Parker Water and Sanitation District (PWSD) to develop a full reuse system, as schematically depicted in Figure 1. Renewable water supplies are provided to Rueter-Hess Reservoir through the Cherry Creek Pump Station (CCPS) from Cherry Creek and by gravity inflow on Newlin Gulch. This water is then stored until demands dictate the release and treatment of the water, with the subsequent use within the PWSD service area that includes the Town of Parker, Lone Tree, and Castle Pines.
The other current principal source of water for PWSD is the deep bedrock aquifers of the Denver Basin. While that is a very reliable supply that has been utilized extensively by PWSD for decades, it is a non-renewable source of water. However, it is also a fully reusable water supply; therefore, after the water is initially used in the PWSD potable water distribution system, it can be treated at the district’s water reclamation facility. Once treated, the water can be temporarily stored in its Regional Pond and then pumped to the Cherry Creek surface diversion and then pumped through the CCPS to Rueter-Hess Reservoir. In addition, reusable shallow alluvial groundwater rights can also be routed to the CCPS pump station and pumped to Rueter-Hess Reservoir. This creates a very effective water reuse system for PWSD to help manage its water rights portfolio, with Rueter-Hess Reservoir being the centerpiece of the reuse system.
Figure 2: Filling of Rueter-Hess Reservoir, 2011-2024.
Since its initial filling Rueter-Hess Reservoir has been a key to developing both a more efficient water reuse system and obtaining as much in priority local renewable water as possible through its surface water diversion and alluvial aquifer wells collection system. Figure 2 shows the filling graph of Rueter-Hess Reservoir since 2011.
While the filling and operation of Rueter-Hess Reservoir has been very successful, there is still significant storage availability since the reservoir has a capacity of over 72,000 acre-feet (ac-ft). Since 2019 PWSD has been in a Water Court case with its co-applicant: Lower South Platte Water Conservancy District (LSPWCD). The background related to the collaborative application by PWSD and LSPWCD has been provided in a previous LWS blog series entitled “Integrated and Sustainable Water Management Plan for a Growing City - A Case Study,” Part 1 was published on 9/15/2020, Part 2 on 9/22/2020 and Part 3 on 9/29/2020. However, a lot has changed since that time, as the co-applicants proceed with the Water Court process.
The collaborative project, now known as the Platte Valley Water Partnership (PVWP) seeks two primary objectives by developing new water supplies from the South Platte River:
To provide PWSD with additional reusable renewable water supplies that can seamlessly be input into PWSD’s current reusable water supply system (Figure 1, above), and
To have LSPWCD develop supplemental water supply for its customers, which are principally agricultural uses, with some municipal water supply needs. In this way, the PVWP Project will meet both agricultural and municipal water supply needs without the “buy and dry” of any agricultural lands (LWS blog 12/1/2020).
Watch for an upcoming blog with an update on the PVWP Project.
Stay tuned!
If you need any help with developing new or supplemental water supplies, whether surface water or groundwater, LWS can help. Please give us a call (303-350-4090) or an email.
Bruce Lytle bruce@lytlewater.com
Chris Fehn chris@lytlewater.com