Design and update critical drinking water infrastructure!
The Design Criteria for Potable Water Systems (Safe Drinking Water Program Policy 5) serves as a key policy document for the department to make decisions on approval of new designs for water sources, treatment, and storage facilities. The document also serves as a guideline for repairing or upgrading waterworks that are cited as significant deficiencies during the department’s sanitary surveys. While systems are not required to modify their waterworks to meet the design criteria, they are required to consider the criteria as acceptable fixes whenever their current waterworks are found to be deficient.
The department intends to update the document regularly, approximately every 4 years with input from stakeholders. To assist with updates, we keep a running list of errors and enhancements. The last update was in 2017. At this time, the department is initiating a criteria update project in late 2020 to be completed in 2021. The Department has identified the following three key areas of focus for this project but is open to other stakeholder recommendations:
- Updates of known errors and enhancements since 2017 - including such items as wetwells at pump stations being considered finished water storage, typos, etc.
- Updates to sections that pertain to corrosion control and the lead and copper rule.
- Addition of sections pertaining to direct potable reuse and requirements for pertinent treatment processes (e.g. advanced oxidation, ozone/biological filtration, adsorption, etc)
More communication will follow and the department encourages stakeholders to participate as they are able to ensure we have the best design criteria policy we can. For more information, please contact Tyson Ingels at 303-692-3002 or tyson.ingels@state.co.us.
➽Tyson Ingels, Lead Drinking Water Engineer
