City Of Arvada: City Of Arvada Implements Watering Restrictions In Advance Of Scheduled Maintenance On Ralston Reservoir

Press release from the City of Arvada:

2021-09-27

Beginning in October, the City of Arvada will implement water use restrictions for outdoor irrigation to prepare for upcoming maintenance work on Ralston Reservoir and to respond to increased demand during the current period of unseasonably warm weather. Beginning Oct. 1, residents will follow alternate watering schedules and are encouraged to discontinue outdoor watering when possible. After Oct. 15, residents must stop all outdoor watering except drip irrigation or handheld watering. 

The City of Arvada must implement watering restrictions due to several factors affecting service capacity. First, Ralston Reservoir, the City’s current source for raw water to the Ralston Water Treatment Plant (WTP), will be shut down beginning in October for planned maintenance. In addition to the reservoir closure, the current extended period of hot and dry weather conditions has created an above-average demand for water. The watering restrictions will help ensure adequate delivery of water for drinking, emergency response and other uses.

In October 2021, the Ralston Reservoir will be taken offline and drained for a period of approximately nine months in order for Denver Water to perform maintenance activities to the reservoir. Ralston Reservoir has historically been the sole source of raw water for the Ralston WTP. 

In preparation for the maintenance work on Ralston Reservoir, the City team completed construction of a new raw water pump station and pipeline in order to supply raw water to the Ralston WTP from the Arvada/Blunn Reservoir. The pump station does not have the capacity to pump the volume of water the community is currently using for outdoor watering. Therefore, late season watering restrictions will be implemented with a full outdoor watering shut off on Oct. 15, 2021.

Water restrictions for residents between Oct. 1 and Oct. 15 are as follows:

Watering restrictions for homeowners associations are as follows:

The City of Arvada Parks Department has stopped watering medians. They will shut down low priority parks areas on or around October 1, 2021. Athletic fields will continue to be watered for aesthetics and safety reasons. However, athletic fields are primarily watered with untreated raw water and therefore will not affect system capacity. Newly seeded areas will continue to be watered as is allowed for residential customers. 

Learn more about watering restrictions at arvada.org/watering.

This press release was produced by the City of Arvada. The views expressed here are the author’s own.