Earlier this week, we mailed a Tier 2 public notification regarding our drinking water system to all of the addresses in our utilities mailing list. We would like to provide further explanation into what this notification was for, and what we have done to resolve the issues.
But firstly, and most importantly, please note that your water is safe to drink.
As a municipality that supplies drinking water, we have many requirements and regulations that we must meet, as required by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. The public notification was mailed to you because we had two violations in our most recent report sent to CDPHE, and the state requires that we send out these notices to our water customers.
The first regulation that resulted in a violation is that the city of Manitou Springs must test at least 80 percent of its cross-connection control devices on an annual basis. We tested only 78 percent, therefore creating this violation.
We have already resolved the issue and tested 95 percent of our cross-control devices. We will ensure that we are testing a similar amount of these devices in all future years.
The second regulation that resulted in a violation was that, in 2021, we reported six private commercial locations within the city’s water system that did not have backflow-prevention devices.
These locations were not resolved by our deadline, therefore creating our second violation.
You have our commitment that we will be working with these private locations to resolve the backflow issues within the next 120 days.
As your one and only option for water, the quality of your drinking water and our water system are high-priority concerns, and we take these violations with extreme seriousness.
Just recently, we have welcomed two experts in the field to our water treatment plant, and brought together a great team of consultants and specialists to ensure that Manitou Springs’ drinking water will be the best it can be for years to come.
Courtesy of the city of Manitou Springs