BOULDER’S WATERWORKS

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Rebuilding Boulder Canyon Hydro In 2009, Hydroelectric Manager Jake Gesner came across an opportunity that he couldn't wait to present to other City staff. Under the Federal Recovery Act stimulus funding program, intended to jumpstart the economy out of the Great Recession, the U.S. Department of Energy was offering a grant for modernization of hydroelectric facilities. The one existing Boulder Canyon Hydro turbine-generator that still ran had been installed in 1936. When the City purchased the Boulder Canyon Hydro Project from the Public Service Company of Colorado, in 2001, this generator was not expected to last for more than five years. Jake and his crew had babied and patched the unit to gain four more years, but it was on borrowed time. There didn't appear to be enough money in the City budgets for full rehabilitation of the hydro until at least 10 more years. The City quickly put together an application for the grant. In late 2009, Boulder received notice of an award of $1.18 million for the project, if the City could come up with $4.3 million of matching funds. The Water Utilities capital project funding was rearranged to take advantage of the grant. The City's investment in construction of the rehabilitated Boulder Canyon Hydro would be recovered from power sales revenues after 10 years of operation with the grant and after 14 years without the grant. Construction of the Boulder Canyon Hydro Modernization Project began in 2012 and reflected what the Boulder water system does well--melding the old with the new. The project replaced the existing operational 10 megawatt turbine/generator unit (“Unit B”) with a new five megawatt turbine/generator. The existing “Unit A,” which no longer functioned in 2001 when the City obtained ownership, was left in place for historic preservation. The modernization project was completed in September 2012. The new turbine is more efficient at converting the pressure of water shooting from the nozzles of the Boulder Canyon Penstock into electricity. In addition, the new appropriately sized turbine doesn't have to be shut down at low flow rates, unlike the massive old turbine. Therefore, the new turbine/generator unit, although smaller than the old, generates about 30 per cent more electricity than the old equipment. The new unit will generate about 580,000 megawatt-hours of electricity throughout its 50-year life.” 223 The City project also replaced ancient, crumbling wiring in the Boulder Canyon Hydro building, improved lightning protection, and installed a remotely operated turbine isolation valve to replace the 1910 valve that was still in use. At the same time as the City's improvements, the Public Service Company’s successor, Xcel Energy, began a project to relocate and replace its relaying and control equipment from within the City’s hydro building to a new dedicated Xcel building constructed outside the hydro plant. 128
Above, a new generator and turbine, installed in the Boulder Hydro Plant, in 2012, replaced “Unit B”––one of two units dating from 1936. While keeping up with the latest technologies, the future of Boulder’s waterworks also builds on its past. The photo, below, of the Boulder Canyon Hydro Plant was taken in 2013. Pettem photos , 2013 129
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BOULDER’S WATERWORKS PAST & PRESE
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BOULDER’S WATERWORKS -- PAST & PR
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• Water System Security Improveme
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INTRODUCTION The story of Boulder
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SETTLEMENT& DITCHES Boulder City To
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1859, they dug small ditches from B
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“Shovel diplomacy,” however, di
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state senator. In January 1873, the
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PUBLIC WATERWORKS & PROBLEMS • 18
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Above, the Town of Boulder Reservoi
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BOULDER’S EARLY WATERWORKS PRESEN
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Ditch laterals paralleled 12th Stre
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A few weeks later, the City Council
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Silver Lake Ditch had five wooden f
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NEED FOR NEW RESERVOIRS • 1891, O
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Continued population growth in Boul
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In Boulder, laborers replaced pipes
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INTO THE 20TH CENTURY Discovery of
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In 1904, glacier hikers even includ
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The Maxwells also made a similar pr
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LAKEWOOD, LAKEWOOD RESERVOIR & TUNS
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In addition, the City acquired ease
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The Act that conveyed the first gra
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BOULDER HYDRO SYSTEM, 1910 The twen
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The dam was photographed on April 1
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producing 5,000 kilowatts (KW) of p
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On August 4, 1910, a ceremony was h
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This drawing of the original two ge
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ADDITIONAL WATERSHED DEVELOPMENTS A
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Silver Lake Pipeline In the years p
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pieces, are we justified in denying
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The WPA built much of Boulder’s w
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mission lines which, in places, has
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older clay tile pipe on the pipelin
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NEW WATER SUPPLIES & GROWTH, 1950s-
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One of the surge chambers for the p
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At this time, Boulder was beginning
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The City entered into an agreement
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Beginning in 1947, CBT Project wate
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The next water rights used to fill
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Atmospheric Research’s proposed b
Page 83 and 84: BETASSO WATER TREATMENT PLANT, 1964
Page 85 and 86: A new raw water pipeline was constr
Page 87 and 88: In 1976, the Betasso Water Treatmen
Page 89 and 90: 83
Page 91 and 92: BOULDER RESERVOIR WATER TREATMENT P
Page 93 and 94: Throughout the 1970s, employees of
Page 95 and 96: WATER AND POWER FOR THE FUTURE, 198
Page 97 and 98: In 1989, roller-compacted concrete
Page 99 and 100: pressure zone into the lower zone.
Page 101 and 102: costs would rise to $999,000. Hartm
Page 103 and 104: DEVELOPMENTS IN THE 1990s From the
Page 105 and 106: Reconstruction of Silver Lake Pipel
Page 107 and 108: water shortages should occur. The c
Page 109 and 110: Water Treatment Plant improvements
Page 111 and 112: The dispute escalated when the City
Page 113 and 114: TWENTY-FIRST-CENTURY PROGRESS As th
Page 115 and 116: Meanwhile, the City wanted to gain
Page 117 and 118: Repair of the Barker Gravity Line F
Page 119 and 120: Lakewood Pipeline reconstruction Bu
Page 121 and 122: struction of the Lakewood Pipeline
Page 123 and 124: the pipe manufacturer for enough mo
Page 125 and 126: sions, City staff surprised themsel
Page 127 and 128: Dealing with Drought In April 2002,
Page 129 and 130: PREPARING FOR THE FUTURE Boulder is
Page 131 and 132: Boulder Feeder Canal, and that was
Page 133: Problem 3 - Discharging water back
Page 137 and 138: The Feeder Canal would require repa
Page 139 and 140: APPENDIX Recent Water Utilities Wor
Page 141 and 142: ENDNOTES 1 The word “Arapaho” c
Page 143 and 144: 35 Daily Camera, October 20, 1891.
Page 145 and 146: 71 Deed between The Cashier Mining
Page 147 and 148: Supply, April 2009, pages 3-10. 104
Page 149 and 150: 135 Preliminary Design Memorandum,
Page 151 and 152: 167 The Windy Gap Project, Municipa
Page 153 and 154: 198 City of Boulder Utilities Repor
Page 155 and 156: 149
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BOULDER’S WATERWORKS

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