Denver Water is installing the backbone infrastructure for recycled water delivery on the northeast side of its service area.
Conduit 302 will deliver recycled water to north Stapleton, the Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge, and the Montbello and Gateway Park neighborhoods. During the next decade, crews will extend the conduit to Green Valley Ranch and Denver International Airport.
Crews began installing the conduit in fall 2010. It starts as a 36-inch pipe and narrows to a 30-inch pipe as water demands decrease toward the east. The entire project, which includes more than six miles of conduit, should be complete by fall 2011. And at $10 million, it’s one of the most expensive capital projects on Denver Water’s books this year.
The conduit begins at East 33rd Avenue and Boston Street and will end at East 56th Avenue and North Chambers Road. To get there, though, the pipe must be tunneled underneath nine busy intersections and railroad crossings, and installed around sewer pipes, telephone lines, gas mains and other obstacles.
Conduit 302 will allow Denver Water to triple the number of recycled water customers and expand its recycled water service area by roughly 25 percent.
Once Denver Water extends the conduit to Denver International Airport, expected in the next decade, it will provide recycled water for rental car companies’ car washes, the airport’s central cooling plant and irrigation needs.