Water conservation is always important.
The Town’s drinking water starts as snow and rain gathered and stored in mountain lakes. This is called raw water or untreated water. The raw water is delivered to the treatment plant by open streams and pipe. The raw water is treated at the Horse Park Water Treatment Plant. Here it is filtered using membrane technology. Chlorine and Fluoride are added to the water. Once the water leaves the plant it enters the distribution system. The distribution system brings the treated water to your home.
Horse Park Water Treatment Plant
Hotchkiss got its first domestic water system in 1903. It had very minimal filtration, Over the years the domestic water system was converted from a minimal filtration system to a modern treatment plant and delivery system incorporating three treated water storage tanks and distribution of water to Hansen Mesa, Barrow Mesa and Rogers Mesa as well as The Town.
In 1977 the Town built the Horse Park Water Treatment Plant. The Town took a loan of $700,000 to build the treatment plant, designed to produce a million gallons per day, meeting current EPA drinking water regulations at the time. The Public Works crew built the Horse Park Water Treatment Plant. In 1987 a clarifier was added to aid in removing turbidity to continue meeting the lowering allowable turbidity standards set forth by EPA. Production at the plant was reduced by nearly 50% to continue meeting EPA standards for drinking water. The 1999 Water System Assessment recommended the plant be upgraded and expanded in order to meet water use needs 20 years into the future. In July of 2010 the new membrane treatment plant was brought on line.
