Aurora OKs water reuse study with agencies

The Aurora City Council voted Monday to move forward with a water reuse feasibility study in partnership with Denver Water and Metro Water.

Denver Water and Aurora Water own and operate city water supplies for their respective cities, and Metro Water owns and operates sewage disposal systems and wastewater treatment plants in Denver and Brighton, according to city documents.

Metro oversees the Robert W. Hite Treatment Facility, 6450 York St. in Denver, and the Northern Treatment Plant, 51 Baseline Road in Brighton. It provides wholesale wastewater treatment services for much of the metro Denver area.

Most of the water from Denver Water and Aurora Water is discharged as wastewater and then transported through Metro Water's transmission systems to its facilities, then disposed of once treated into the South Platte River, city documents said.

The feasibility study would look into other possible options for water reuse.

Currently, Metro Water is planning new treatment infrastructure at its facilities, the documents said. The study and resulting water reuse projects would mutually benefit all three water organizations.

Each of them would contribute $150,000 to the project and Metro Water has agreed to retain and manage a consultant to run the study.

Sarah Young, Aurora Water's assistant general manager for planning and engineering, said the three water organizations want to look at their current processes and explore new options to capture and reuse water.

"It's a way for us to look at our individual systems with individual goals and see if there's a way to connect the dots between them in a cost effective way for the public," Young said.

Wastewater isn't really "waste" water, she said, and she wishes the industry and community could get away from using that phase, since the end goal is really to use the water again.