District Facts and Trivia

For those of you searching for more information regarding the Woodmoor Water and Sanitation District, we present you with the following facts and trivia about the district and it's facilities.

District Water Sources

Water sources are generally classified into two groups: surface water and ground water. The water used to supply the district's water system comes from both sources. Surface water is just what the name implies; it is water found in a river, lake or other surface impoundment. As part of it's overall supply, the WWSD utilizes surface water from Lake Woodmoor, which comes from the surrounding creeks. Surface water is usually not very high in mineral content and is often called soft water even though it is typically not. Surface water is susceptible to many forms of contaminants, such as bacteria, pesticides, industrial waste, algae and other organic materials. Surface water must therefore be treated to meet the state and federal regulations for potable water. The water in Lake Woodmoor is treatable and therefore suitable for use in the potable system; at the present time, Lake Woodmoor is used for non-potable irrigation at the Woodmoor Golf Course and at Lewis Palmer High School. Water from Lake Woodmoor is also treated for potable uses in the domestic water distribution system.

Ground water, on the other hand, is water that is trapped beneath the ground. It's sources are rain that soaks into the ground, rivers that have disappeared beneath the earth, melting snow. Wells are built to retrieve these waters from below the surface of the earth from areas called aquifers. The district currently maintains 14 wells to provide its customers with water. Due to the many different sources that recharge the supply of underground water, ground water may contain any or all of the aforementioned contaminants founds in surface water as well as minerals that become constituents of the water as it stays underground. However, ground water is usually a much cleaner water than surface water and more often requires little if any treatment before it is used for drinking. For more information regarding constituents in the District's water please see the Annual Drinking Water Quality Report.

Of the 326 million cubic miles of water on planet earth, only about 3% is fresh water, 3/4 of which is frozen. Only 0.5% of all water is ground water and only 0.02% of all water is found in lakes and streams (surface water).

District Facilities

The Woodmoor Water & Sanitation District currently maintains 14 wells that pump water from deep underground aquifers. The District has 5 wells that draw from the Dawson aquifer, 2 wells in the Denver aquifer, and 7 wells in the Arapahoe aquifer.

The wells of the Dawson aquifer are the shallowest at 800 to 900 feet deep and produce 30 to 60 gallons of water per minute.

The wells of the Denver aquifer bring water from the depths of 1,200 to 1,500 feet with an average production between 150 to 200 gallons per minute.

The Arapaho aquifer wells are the deepest, down to 2,500 feet underground and producing volumes between 250 all the way up to 800 gallons per minute.

The electrical costs to run these 14 wells in 2001 were $212,968.61.

Total 2001 electrical costs for the entire district to function (including the district office, booster pumps and lift stations) were $250,809.54.

The water is distributed to your home in over 85 miles of pipeline of various sizes and materials supported by two 1-million-gallon storage tanks, which serve the 2546 residential and 55 commercial taps in the Woodmoor Water & Sanitation District.

District Water Usage

Approximately 8,400 people living and working in the Woodmoor Water & Sanitation District used a total of 356,212,100 gallons of water in 2000 and 375,089,200 gallons of water in 2001.

Less than 5% of indoor water usage and less than 1% of all water in public water systems is used for drinking and cooking. Varied estimates put the average indoor water use per person between 60 and 100 gallons per day.

The daily average total water use per person for the past two years is 135 gallons per day.