In order to fully utilize every available water resource, lower costs, and benefit the environment, the District has constructed a dual water supply system over the past three decades to serve new development. District customers north of E. 96th Avenue or east of the Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge (“RMA”) have two water systems: a potable system for indoor use and a separate non-potable system for use in underground irrigation systems.  All water provided to customers south of E.96th and west of the RMA is treated drinking water.  Here is a map showing the areas of the District that have and do not have the separate irrigation system:  

The dual system includes separate irrigation and potable water systems that provide water for about 33,000 households and businesses. The irrigation system includes its own set of alluvial wells and completely separate infrastructure from the potable drinking water supply system. Each system includes separate pipelines, pump stations, and reservoirs used to deliver the different supplies. The dual system allows the District to maximize our water rights, to save costs in deferring for many years the construction of an additional treatment plant and not treating irrigation water to drinking water standards, and to benefit the environment by avoiding the use of additional electricity and transport of chemicals used in producing drinking water.

Because the water in the Separate Irrigation System is not meant for drinking, the water is not treated and it should not be consumed.  The water will have higher concentrations of naturally occurring minerals and bacteria. It also will have man-made substances, including volatile organic compounds and PFAS, at levels which, although in the low parts per trillion range, are above levels set by the government for drinking water.  This water is suitable for application on lawns and plants.  The District has prepared an information sheet on PFAS and the Separate Irrigation System at https://www.sacwsd.org/249/PFAS-Information.  The water in the Separate Irrigation System is not “recycled” or “reclaimed” water, i.e., water that is supplied into the system from a wastewater plant, nor is it “greywater” or untreated water from showers, clothes washers, and non-kitchen faucets.