Update: City of Boulder water is good; Left Hand water not so much
Sep 14th
The City of Boulder is urging increased water conservation by city water customers for several reasons as a result of the recent flooding. Water customers are asked to turn off all irrigation systems. Turf, plants and trees do not need supplemental water at this time. Run only run full loads in the clothes and dishwashers. Don’t let taps run or flush toilets unnecessarily.
The city’s Betasso Water Treatment Facility is operational and continues to deliver safe drinking water to city residents. However, due to high levels of turbidity in the Boulder Reservoir, the Boulder Reservoir Water Treatment Facility is not able to treat drinking water at this time and was not brought back online as the city had planned. While the Betasso facility has the ability to deliver water to all city customers, the city does not have redundancy in water treatment with the Boulder Reservoir Water facility offline. The city is urging water customers to use water conservatively until the Boulder Reservoir facility is operational again. This will allow the city to conserve and extend water treatment resources at the Betasso facility.
Additionally, the city’s wastewater treatment facility is experiencing unprecedented flows and system anomalies. A reduction in water use will help alleviate the pressure on the wastewater collection system.
Update on the wastewater pipeline breach
Yesterday, the city announced a breach in the main wastewater pipeline that carries 90 percent of the city’s wastewater to the treatment facility. However, today’s assessment indicated that there was not a breach in the suspected location. While good news, the condition of the wastewater currently arriving at the treatment facility does indicate that there are other issues throughout the collection system. City staff continues to assess and resolve these collection system deficiencies.
Many Boulder residents have been reporting that water or sewage is backing up into their homes. In most cases, this is groundwater and floodwater, not untreated wastewater (sewage). Excess stormwater in the drainage system and saturated soils are causing groundwater and floodwater to back up into private residences. However, if residents see or smell solid waste, they should call the Emergency Call Center at 303-413-7730 and ask that the issue be reported to Public Works crews. These backups could still be the result of issues on private property, but the city would like to gather the information to determine if it indicates a system failure.
Residents with isolated groundwater and floodwater backups may stay in their homes. However, if the water is wastewater, residents should use their own discretion to determine whether or not their homes are safe to stay in. These incidents are expected to decrease as the floodwaters recede.
Note about calls from Left Hand Water District
Some City of Boulder water customers received a phone call from the Left Hand Water District announcing a boil water order. If you are a City of Boulder water customer, you do not need to boil your water. The phone call was sent to a geographic area, but there are City of Boulder water customers in that area too and some got the call inadvertently. Check your water bill to determine who your water provider is. If you are in an HOA or a multifamily or rental unit and your water bill is paid by the HOA or your landlord, ask them to confirm who provides your water.
–CITY–
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- Boulder water treatment plant
Boulder Flood GOLD strike!?
Sep 14th
At first it look like god hated Boulder with the fires of 2010 and now the floods of 2013, but now today Gold has been discovered on top of the silt all over the city.
Oh wait it might be iron pirates !Boulder Channel 1 host Jann Scott was out shooting video of the water damage when he came across his friend who runs a Boulder convenience store. The store manager was all excited. ” Its Gold he said, /we found Gold. Sure enough a dozen or so of his friends were out scooping up gold flakes and nuggets of Gold which the flood waters had churned up. When asked about the Gold senator Mark Udall said “good for them”. If it is gold, Sheriff Pelle told us, “well if it’s laying on the ground it’s up for grabs, isn’t it?”
But how much Gold has come to the surface.? Two Gold miners on site told us. “This is gold Country. those hills are still filled with Gold. All that water went down in those mines and spit it up. My god we’re rich”.
By examination we saw Gold dust and nugget spread all over. Just amazing Boulder has become a Gold mecca over night.
What is nice to see is that the folks who discovered it all just folk who really need a wind fall.
An assessor will tell the truth.
Latest from Boulder EOM on flood: Lefthand water, Boulder water, mountain routes closed
Sep 14th
Emergency Status
This page displays all public information that has been released about emergencies occurring in our community.
We are committed to posting updates as soon as new and verified details become available. The information is displayed in reverse chronological order, with the most recent updates at the top. If you are keeping this page up, PLEASE REFRESH PERIODICALLY FOR THE MOST CURRENT INFORMATION.
9-14-2013 Next Media Briefing Scheduled for 5:00pm
The next media briefing is scheduled for 5 p.m. MST today . City and county officials along with the Rocky Mountain Incident Management Team will be providing updates. This is instead of the 4:30 p.m. briefing that was announced this morning. We switched the time at the request of media outlets that plan to carry the conference live at 5 p.m.
Lower Boulder canyon
9-14-2013 11:00am Left Hand Water District Clarification
There has been some confusion about the boil water advisory that was sent out for the Left Hand Water district. The advisory was for those served by the Left Hand Water district only, if you are served by Left Hand Water district you would pay your bill directly to them. City of Boulder, Gunbarrel, City of Longmont, Town of Lafayette, Eldorado Springs, and Town of Erie drinking water continues to be safe to drink. If your drinking water is purchased from the any of those districts, you do not have to boil it.
Some residents appear to have received the phone call from the Left Hand Water District to boil water. The phone call was sent to a geographic area, but there were some water customers included that are not served by the Left Hand Water district and some got the call inadvertently. Check your water bill to determine who your water provider is. If you are in an HOA or a multifamily or rental unit and your water bill is paid by the HOA or your landlord, ask them to confirm who provides your water. Visit lefthandwater.org and scroll down to the “District Service Clarification” section for more information.
The Town of Lyons still continue to be under a boil water advisory.
9-14-2013 9 a.m. Media Briefing Summary
- Emergency personnel are focusing on life safety search and rescue operations.
- Lots of air support will be used throughout the day to evacuate people.
- Numerous mountain roads are flooded, damaged and impassable, making rescue operations more challenging.
- Transportation crews are working on repairing roads for rescue and evacuation efforts.
- More than 200 people are unaccounted for, but necessarily missing. Emergency officials are working hard to collect an updated list of names from hospitals, shelters and evacuation sites.
- Sunshine Canyon is the only access route to Nederland and is open to emergency vehicles only.
- Approximately 50 people are still in Jamestown and law enforcement personnel are urging them to evacuate as it is not known when the roads will be repaired.
- Officials are urging people to stay off the roads, especially in the mountains, to allow emergency personnel to do their job.
- The children at the Cal-Wood Education Center will be rescued today.
- Officials are still working on a plan for debris and trash removal. Please do not leave debris in streets as this may impede safety vehicles.
- No immediate threat to drinking water in Boulder, Erie, Lafayette or Longmont. Please limit discretionary water usage, to the extent possible.
- Stay out of floodwaters, which are contaminated and unsafe.
Thanks to all of the evacuation centers, federal partners and the community for all your continue patience and support.
9-14-13 8:50 a.m. City of Boulder Water is Safe to Drink
City of Boulder drinking water continues to be safe to drink. If your drinking water is purchased from the City of Boulder, you do not have to boil it. Some residents appear to have received the phone call from the Left Hand Water District to boil water. The phone call was sent to a geographic area, but there are also City of Boulder water customers in that area and some got the call inadvertently. However, if you get your drinking water from the City of Boulder, you do NOT need to boil water. Check your water bill to determine who your water provider is. If you are in an HOA or a multifamily or rental unit and your water bill is paid by the HOA or your landlord, ask them to confirm who provides your water.
Visit lefthandwater.org and scroll down to the “District Service Clarification” section for more information.
