Four parks in the Lowry and Montclair neighborhoods were converted to recycled water this summer, part of Denver Water’s growing effort to free up more water for drinking purposes by using recycled water for irrigation needs.
Crescent, Denison, McNichols and Verbena parks were added to Denver Water’s recycled water system during July and August. Recycled water is wastewater treated to Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment standards and can be used for irrigation, commercial and industrial purposes. Once build-out is complete, the project will supply more than 5 billion gallons of recycled water every year for irrigation, industrial and commercial uses, freeing up enough drinking water to serve about 42,500 households a year.
Parks and golf courses that use recycled water are clearly marked with signs. In addition, some valve boxes and sprinkler heads are purple, which is the same color as the pipes used to transport recycled water. Though recycled water is highly treated, people should not drink it because it does not meet drinking water standards.
These four parks will add to the 13 Denver parks already being irrigated with recycled water, making a total of 552 acres of parks on recycled water. In addition to recycled water conversions, Denver Parks and Recreation is improving irrigation systems at 37 parks through the Better Denver Bond Project, an infrastructure bond program. Through these irrigation improvements and conversions to recycled water in these 17 parks, Denver will save more than 450 million gallons of drinking water annually.
— Story and photos by Ann Depperschmidt, Community Relations