BOULDER’S WATERWORKS

mission lines which, in places, has to be anchored to precipitous cliffs with
heavy cables.
At places, the transmission line has to be embedded in cement, with steel and
stone reinforcements to keep the water from blowing the pipe skyward. There
are miles of distribution lines traversing every street in Boulder. The lines
have to be kept in perfect condition. Fire hydrants have to be kept in good
working condition, and because of the efficiency of the department, a hydrant
has never failed the fire department at a critical time.
There are hundreds of water meters to be read, cleaned, repaired, and kept
from freezing in the winter time. Air has to be removed from the water
through the operation of valves. The air gets into the pipeline and when not
released charges the water effectively as bromo seltzer. Overflow from the two
reservoirs have to be watched to prevent waste of water.
Turn-on and turn-off orders as people leave or move into houses or buildings
keeps members of the staff busy. Roads have to be built, tons of rock have to be
blasted away, dams have to be reinforced! Outlets of reservoirs have to be kept
free of debris.
Bridge trestles and buildings are constructed by the members of this department.
Hundreds of miles of sanitary and storage sewers have to be kept repaired
and clear. The city’s new sewage plant has to be kept in efficient operation.
The above are only a few of the many jobs that fall upon the well-staffed
water department. 122
The City continued to buy additional parcels of land in the Silver Lake Watershed area
from private owners until it owned approximately 6,500 acres that included 13 reservoirs
and natural lakes. Almost all of the water supply from the area came from melting snows,
with only a fraction of a percent from the melting of Arapaho Glacier. This high-quality
source of water supply was sufficient to meet all of Boulder’s water needs until the 1950s. 123
Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District
Along with the financial hard times of the 1930s came serious drought conditions throughout
the West. The trading of water and storage supplies became serious business in Boulder
and elsewhere. While the WPA was at work in the mountains helping municipalities
repair dams, farmers and ranchers on the plains formed the District Six Water Users Association.
It acted as a “watchdog” group to assure that transfers of water rights to the City
of Boulder and other municipalities did not harm the association’s water rights.
The Great Depression was characterized by a series of dry years and, in 1937, more dry
years were predicted for the 1940s. At the time, the United States Bureau of Reclamation
joined forces with farmers, ranchers, cities and towns in northern Colorado, located within
the Platte River drainage, to form the Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District
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