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Inside Arvada's Water Quality with Evelyn Rhodes

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Arvada's water begins its journey high in the Rocky Mountains making it's way from the Fraser River and Clear Creek to one of Arvada's two water treatment plants. Water Quality Administrator, Evelyn Rhodes, leads the team who ensures that when Arvadans turn on the tap, we can trust that our water has been treated, monitored, and tested to protect our health and safety. Visit ArvadaCO.gov/Water-Quality for more information, including a map of Arvada's water sources. 

In this episode, Evelyn shares more about:

Editor's note: when discussing PFAS particles as parts per trillion, the analogy that Evelyn was trying to explain was that this would be equivalent to one penny in 10 billion dollars!

Other news and events:


Visit us at ArvadaCO.gov/Podcast or email us at podcast@arvada.org.

Katie:

Welcome to Inside Arvada, the City of Arvada's podcast, where we bring you conversations with the people who make Arvada a thriving community. Hear stories about the past, present and future of Arvada through the lens of the city team members who help make it all happen. Explore the complex topics impacting our community, From the roads you drive to the water you drink, the parks where you play to what your neighbors think. Join us as we take you Inside Arvada. Hi everyone, welcome to Inside Arvada. I'm one of your hosts, Katie Patterson, and we are so excited for today's episode.

Katie:

Today we have Evelyn Rhodes, the city's water quality administrator, on with us. She and her small but mighty water quality team work at the city's water treatment plant and with the water treatment department. They perform sampling and analysis of our raw and treated waters and ensure we maintain compliance with all water quality regulations and there are quite a lot of them. She has been with the city for a fantastic four years and previously held positions as the pre-treatment coordinator at Metro Water Recovery and as North Glen's water quality lab supervisor. She has taught water quality classes at Red Rocks Community College and regularly works with the water quality program at Arvada West High School, including serving on their advisory board. Her favorite and only child just graduated from Arvada West High School, Go Cats, and I am here today with my co-host, Sean Star. Hey, Sean.

Sean:

Hi Katie, thanks everyone for listening to today's podcast. Really enjoyed our conversation with Evelyn. It was very informative to learn all about water quality, where our water comes from, where it's treated to make it safe and taste good, right into our taps of our homes and so enjoyed our conversation with Evelyn and with that we will turn it over to our interview.

Katie:

Hi, evelyn, welcome to Inside Arvada. So, if you can start, tell us a little bit about yourself and your work here with the city.

Evelyn:

Hi, katie and Sean, thanks so much for having me today. So I grew up in Colorado, down in Littleton, and I went to college two times Colorado, down in Littleton, and I went to college two times. First I went to Fort Lewis in Durango and then later I attended Metro State in Denver, and my degree program at Metro was environmental science with a water quality emphasis, during which time I took some classes at Red Rocks Community College and through that program I started my passion for, and career in, water and wastewater treatment. So I've been working in the field for about 11 years now and in my current position at Arvada, I oversee the water quality team and the city's certified drinking water laboratory, along with keeping up with constantly changing regulations and legislation surrounding drinking water and surface water.

Katie:

Yeah, and we will get into some of those regulations here pretty soon. But first what I wanted to talk about is one of the things that you do each year. That's a really big part of kind of the public-facing work that happens routinely for you all is that your team publishes a water quality report and that has information about what has been tested for and what's been found in Arvada's water, and so can you tell us a little bit about that report and what all is included in it?

Evelyn:

Sure, so we test our treated drinking water for hundreds of parameters throughout the whole year, but most of the results are below detection levels, meaning there's zero results or like zero is the result. So the annual water quality report contains an overview of the results of the parameters that we did see detections of and then where we tested them for it, and it also lists any violations we may have received our contact information, information about our source waters and how to reduce exposure to lead at your tap. Then we might include additional information, like projects we're working on or other helpful information that our customers may want, like PFAS or a treatment process, and then I'm really excited. Also, we now have an accessible version of the report online that actually reads out the data tables, which can be difficult for electronic readers to decipher, and you can find the report on our water quality webpage on the city's website.

Katie:

Yeah, and we'll link to it in our show notes for everyone so you can find that easily. And yeah, you have worked really hard to make that report accessible to everyone and I think that's just a really good improvement. We're working on across the city, but this has been a really good example of making something that can be pretty complicated. That table's got lots of data in it and so it's a different way to read it for someone who may be visually impaired. Yes, thank you. And so one program that is underway now and we're really excited about you have really led for the city in implementing and really for the region for implementing is the Lead Service line replacement program, and in Nevada we're relatively lucky to not have a lot of lead service lines, lead drinking water lines in our system, and so can you tell us a little bit more about, first, what's a drinking water service line and then, what should our customers know about this program?

Evelyn:

Okay, so a drinking water service line is the pipe that brings the fresh water into your house, not to be confused with your sewer line, which is the opposite. So since the water we're providing is clean, we need to also make sure that the piping conveyance system to your tap doesn't pick up unwanted metals like lead before you drink it. So everyone has known for a long time that lead is not good to consume and so we're trying to find any pre-1960 structures with lead or galvanized service lines remaining on the customer side. And that's the portion that goes from the meter pit to the house's foundation and we've lumped galvanized in there with the lead as part of the regulation. So we actually haven't found lead lines yet, but we have found quite a few galvanized service lines which we're basically just treating like lead lines.

Evelyn:

So the city does not own the customer portion of the line. Those belong to the property owner. But for a limited time through the end of 2026, the city will pay to have those lines replaced under our program. So if we do find a letter galvanized line on the customer side, we will replace it for them. But then after that, if we still suspect that there's a letter galvanized service line at a property, we will start issuing fines, so we don't want to do that. We're hoping everybody will participate before then. And then detailed information is also on our website, along with ways to determine what your line material is on your own and how to let us know what that material is. And then, of course, you can always call us if you need any help or you have any questions.

Katie:

Yeah, you all have really been providing amazing customer service for this program. I mean the phone line, the email, there's an online survey folks can fill out. There's lots of pictures and kind of information about how to find your line, where, essentially where your service line comes into your home usually a basement or crawl space and that's where you're going to look for the connecting point to see what is that line material made of. And then, just to reiterate, this is really mostly pre-1960 homes, because after that you can correct me we didn't really use lead anymore. Exactly and same with galvanized.

Evelyn:

There may be some galvanized, but the concern is more lead that could have been upstream from the galvanized lead that was used in old meters and pretty much by 1960, we had stopped using those kind of materials.

Katie:

Okay, thanks for clarifying that.

Sean:

Yeah, definitely. And so if I do have to have my service line replaced like, how big and how long of a project are we looking at for to have that done? Yeah, so we already have our to have that done.

Evelyn:

Yeah, so we already have. Our contractor is already out there working. We've done our first few replacements already and, as long as everything goes really smooth, it only takes a couple hours and they'll shut the water off. Uh, you know, dig a hole, kind of actually outside in the street, and then they bore through under the yard alongside the old pipe, and so it's actually pretty minimally invasive. It doesn't really tear up your yard or anything like that. There's no trenching and then your service is connected and gets turned back on pretty quick. So it's pretty seamless.

Sean:

Matter of a couple hours. That's great, yeah, so you don't actually have to trench all it.

Katie:

I picture like my whole front yard being dug out or something like that. I think that's what people worry about?

Sean:

Yeah, very cool.

Katie:

Yeah, that's a good point, and I think one thing we also didn't mention this is part of some larger environmental protection agency regulations, and so this is a regulation that we're enforcing but is impacting the entire country, and so folks are kind of different, communities are at different places in this process, and we're actually relatively early adopters of coming up with our own program to address the service lines, but just want to make sure folks know that too, that you might look at a neighboring community and not see quite the same information yet. At least and there are different options about every community can implement their own program in their own way. It's really just about getting the lead out. However you go about that may be different community by community.

Evelyn:

Yeah, excellent Wrap up on that, perfect Thank you.

Katie:

What else should folks know about lead and drinking water?

Evelyn:

Well, any potential lead that gets in your tap water is not coming from Arvada's treated water. It's coming primarily from internal plumbing and faucets, and you can reduce this exposure by simply running your cold tap for several seconds before using it. Especially if you've been away from your house for a long time. Just run it for a couple minutes. The EPA also has a lot of good tips on their website for minimizing other sources of exposure to lead around your house. And then I would just say we've come a long way in reducing lead, you know, since the 1970s, but we're obviously not finished quite yet.

Katie:

Yeah, thanks, I think that's good info to know. And the program we were talking about is service line to the home, not that internal premise In-premise plumbing. Correct, I was getting there, yeah, great, okay. So another thing I think folks are often interested in is water supply. We talk about drought in Colorado a lot. We talk about water supply a lot, and the city has invested in the gross reservoir expansion project and we're a partner in that project in an effort to secure water supply through the build out of our community. And so from a planning perspective, that's not really your realm. But from the water supply side of things, source water protection is part of what you do and try to educate our community about. So tell us, where does our water come from?

Evelyn:

Okay. So we are very fortunate in Arvada we have excellent water supplies. Our primary water source is fresh snowmelt from the Fraser River Valley, which goes to Gross Reservoir and then travels through a canal to Ralston Reservoir, which is then treated at a Ralston water treatment plant and then travels through a canal to Ralston Reservoir, which is then treated at a Ralston water treatment plant. And then our other source, which is about 25% of our supply, comes from Clear Creek through a series of canals that feed into the Arvada Reservoir and then the Arvada Reservoir water is mainly treated at the Arvada water treatment plant. So these two sources are really great fresh sources, but they do have different characteristics which can become evident at certain times of the year, especially depending on which part of town you live in. So the Arvada Reservoir is a lot smaller and warmer than the Ralston Reservoir and it's more prone to algae, especially in the late summer and through the fall. And the algae aren't dangerous but they can leave a pretty strong taste in the water even after it's been treated.

Katie:

So we've been working on ways to reduce or prevent this algae growth, because nobody likes when their water tastes fishy yeah, uh, yeah, we were talking before this that we feel almost like we're maybe more sensitive here to our water taste because we have this like we're really basically first users of our water. We have this like fresh snow melt water coming into our you know treated, goes through all the process and then eventually to our taps. So in the summer area where it's warm and I don't know, algae, a little more skunky I guess, but other parts of the country it's like that all the time. It's just kind of funny to learn that and cool to hear where our water comes from. We'll link to. We have a really good map of our source water so we can link to that map too, to kind of. I know I'm a person that needs to visualize that when you're saying it I can't really picture it in my head.

Sean:

And it might taste a little funky, but it's still very safe. You know, it still goes through the treatment plan, everything like that, and so if it does taste a little funky, you can always use what your refrigerator filter or a Brita filter or something like that. Yeah, that's really just going to make it taste better, right? Sure?

Evelyn:

Yeah, that's usually what we recommend. If people are more sensitive to it or they just don't like it is just use the filter for a short period of time until it passes. But the water is still safe. So if you choose to drink it, you can use it for cooking and showering. Everything else is fine. But if you don't like the taste, a simple point-of-use filter works great.

Katie:

And then, what should folks know about protecting our water sources?

Evelyn:

Well, we work really hard to protect our drinking water sources and, in fact, if you go out to our redder reservoir throughout the week ever, you probably see us out there sampling on our boat and behind the scenes. We're also supporting wildfire preparation and mitigation efforts in order to protect our sources if and when a forest fire hits our watersheds. And I think it's also really important to realize that everyone is upstream of another water user, so things that you do to keep our stormwater drains and our canals and our streams clean help protect downstream water users.

Katie:

Yeah, and often that can be things like as simple as picking up after your dog's poop or being cautious about when and where and how you're using fertilizer to not have it spilling into the stormwater. The curb and gutter those are the two that pop into my mind. Cleaning up a spill if you have an oil spill Right, those sorts of things that are really just kind of everyday things that happen but can really pollute our water systems Exactly Good point, yeah, okay. Can really pollute our water systems Exactly Good point, yeah, okay. Our next topic that comes up particularly in the news media a lot is around PFAS, which stands for per and polyfluoroalkyl substances. It's a mouthful. What are PFAS?

Evelyn:

PFAS are man-made chemicals that have been around for decades and tons of products that we use every day. So items we associate most frequently with PFAS products are like waterproof or nonstick things, like rain gear, fast food wrappers, cookware and even makeup and sunscreens. So they've also traditionally been used in large quantities in firefighting foams, which is why we see contamination sometimes in groundwater near like airfields and military bases. But now that we know that many of these chemicals are bad for humans, there's starting to be a phase out of certain PFAS chemicals and products and there's also extensive testing going on nationwide at really low detection levels for these chemicals, and so of course we're finding them everywhere and then they can enter our waterways through wastewater systems, where customers wash these products and then they inadvertently put them into the waste stream, which aren't easily removed at a wastewater treatment facility. Luckily, at Arvada we're really early users of our source water, so we've seen really very little PFAS contamination in our water. We're very lucky. Not everybody's as lucky as we are.

Katie:

Yeah, and that's something we also EPA standards to report on that as well. That information is reported publicly and on our website too. So then, the other thing about PFAS is like this you kind of mentioned this it's like tiny, tiny particles, and so it's super hard from a water treatment perspective to treat them out. After the fact, it's really removing them from the sources, which, as you talked about, are these products that we use, and so can you remind us what the parts per million, trillion billion?

Evelyn:

whatever. Yeah, so we're talking about part per trillion, which I need to get has a lot of zeros right, so it's like .000000. I think the one I like is like a second in like 10 million years or something like that.

Katie:

Yes, we can try and find that after.

Evelyn:

Or it's like a penny and-. Yes, drop in the ocean $100 million or something like that. Yeah.

Katie:

So we're looking at these really, really tiny levels of these things. Okay, I think you've covered that pretty well. Is there anything else people should know about sources of PFAS or contaminations to our water?

Evelyn:

Yeah, I just think it's important that we all pay attention to the products we use and understand how our consumer habits can affect waterways and downstream users, including things that you're putting down your sink or your toilet, that those do end up in the water streams downstream and you could be affecting future water users.

Katie:

Yeah, I think that's something that folks really we don't think about that right. It's like they're being a next user of our water. We just we use it and it goes away. And I just got to and you used to work at Metro Water Recovery, which is where we send as Arvada, we don't have a wastewater treatment facility we send it to Metro Water Recovery, who treats water for the whole region. But that's where, when you wash that makeup or that sunscreen down the drain with the PFAS in it, that's where it ends up and they can't treat it out. We can't treat it out. It's easier to just not have it get into our systems.

Sean:

Yeah, not fully, probably some of it gets out, but yes, yeah, I do have one question a little off topic Walking my dog and the approach I've always used is if the water's moving, I'll be like, okay, it's safe for the dog to drink and, yeah, I'll let her drink from the moving water. But if it's like a still pond that looks kind of gross, I'll be like, oh, that's probably not safe, it's not moving. Is that completely not a good approach to have?

Evelyn:

Boy. Is there any science?

Sean:

behind that.

Evelyn:

I don't know. I mean, I guess, like stagnant water is probably more likely to just have more bacteria growing in it and stuff like that, but flowing water can also have Giardia or Cryptosporidium in it, which can affect dogs. A lot of people think that dogs can't get affected by Giardia, but they can. So I don't know if that's the total rule of thumb, but dogs do have heartier stomachs than we do. I think the thing is you want to be a little more careful when you see that kind of soupy algae, because some of those algaes can make dogs pretty sick, yeah.

Katie:

Yeah, I think E coli is another one that's just kind of in all water and is a naturally occurring, just like all of these bacteria naturally occurring, but more concentrated in urban areas too, probably just like our source water is, you know, cleaner than our in-city runoff water, which is what is filled in our creeks yeah, and a lot more animal and people impacts to those water bodies can definitely increase the amount of E coli in them.

Katie:

Yeah, we'll have to bring our stormwater manager on to talk more about how they test our lakes and creeks for water quality too. Yeah definitely so just to wrap us up, what else haven't we talked about that folks should know, about our vow to water the work that you do, anything else?

Evelyn:

We work really hard to keep your water safe and clean and, hopefully, tasting good too, most of the time, and our treatment plant operators work 24-7, 365 days a year to keep your water safe at your tap. We also have a lot of city staff keeping our tanks, pumps, valves and hydrants operating properly to keep that water moving, so you don't have to worry when you turn on your faucet. Water is always going to come out and it's always going to be safe and clean, and we've also tried to create a really helpful web page for any water quality questions that our customers may have, and we really want that to be a resource for people. We field a lot of calls with questions and concerns every day, and our utilities department has an after hours number too, if issues arise after hours, and we're always willing and available to help. We're really proud of the work we do and we really care about our residents and our customers.

Katie:

Yeah, thanks. That's such a just true to what I've seen from all of our teams. Way to kind of wrap this up is how much care for community you all put into that day-to-day work and from the customer service and picking up the phone to the hard work that you all do. It's really great. And I'll just add that, for those listening, those rates that you pay for your water, sewer and storm bill, those rates and fees that goes directly to support this work, like Evelyn does, ensuring that we can deliver safe, clean drinking water straight to your tap every day and reliably remove that water after use. We've talked a little bit about all of those steps in the process, but they're often unseen and just what we expect to happen every day and there's a lot of work behind the scenes that we're just really grateful to have great people like you working here. Thank you All. Right Off my soapbox, Sean. Can we pass it to you for the lightning round please?

Sean:

Absolutely so. The lightning round is a series of sort of more personal questions that we ask every guest that comes on the podcast, just to get to know them a little better. And so the first one is what is your favorite thing about Arvada? It could be a place, it could be a fact or even a hidden gem.

Evelyn:

Besides Lake Arbor and all the great places to eat and drink throughout Arvada, I honestly most love the way the city takes care of its residents and I was a resident even before I was an employee and I just always loved the way. If you call with any question, somebody's going to help you right away. They really do take care of the residents. I love that.

Sean:

And what was your first, last or best concert you've been to?

Evelyn:

I think my favorite concert experience was probably seeing Gregory Alan Isaacov with the Colorado Symphony. I literally cried. It was wonderful.

Sean:

That's awesome. Where was that at?

Evelyn:

The Ellie Calkins.

Sean:

Huh, not familiar with that venue.

Evelyn:

Like the Denver Center of Performing Arts.

Sean:

Oh gotcha Okay, oh, very nice. What brought you to Arvada? It sounds like you were born here and grew up here.

Evelyn:

Yeah, so I grew up in Littleton on the South Side and I moved up north for my job at North Glen about 10 years ago and then about six years ago I moved into Arvada proper to be closer really to Lake Arbor and then just the other amenities, the proximity to the mountains and stuff, and I absolutely love living here.

Sean:

And what was your first official job?

Evelyn:

My first job was at Video City in Littleton. I was 15. It's long gone.

Katie:

Did you have to like re-spin the wheels on those VHSs?

Evelyn:

Yeah, we wound a lot of videos.

Sean:

It was like a machine that would do it, though.

Evelyn:

Right, you could put it in the machine, yeah, but if they got messed up, we would like have to cut them and tape them together. People wouldn't even notice.

Katie:

Yeah, we're educating the youth of America right now with this. I worked at a Blockbuster back in the day before they all closed down.

Evelyn:

And then, do you have a favorite project that you've done with the city? Yeah, I would say, even though the service line investigation and replacement project has been a really big time consumer and really stressful at times. It's also been really cool to meet so many staff in the city that have helped me build the program, figure out all the little details and just overall supported this effort, and we've gotten to meet and connect with so many residents in the community. So that's been really fun and creating an ordinance for the program was really rewarding. So this whole project and the city team have worked towards it and continue to work on it is definitely a major pride point for me.

Katie:

We are so thankful to have you leading that project too, such an important one. So thank you, evelyn, so much for coming on today.

Sean:

Thank, you, I really appreciate it.

Evelyn:

Thanks, Evelyn. Thank you.

Katie:

And before we let you go today, we wanted to give you a little update on news and events happening around town.

Katie:

And so, first, the Old Town Transit Hub has had that top level closed since earlier this spring and that has officially reopened, and so just thank you to everyone for your patience while they were doing some work on that top level to maintain the top level of the structure. And additionally, the Cities Recycling and and trash program has annual rate changes that were approved by city council in June and those will go into effect for our customers July 1st, and you can visit arvadagov slash waste or look at the link in our show notes for the complete list of updated rates and fees that will be applied. And then, super exciting, this year is actually the 120th anniversary of the signing of the Articles of Incorporation for Arvada, and so there are tons of celebrations happening all summer long, and actually later this summer we are going to have on our communications director to share some information about what all is going on. So stay tuned for that episode and some more details and highlights coming later this summer. And then, sean, there's lots of other events going on, tell us some more.

Sean:

Yeah, summer events are heating up, and so we're getting close to Independence Day, and so the city will be hosting its annual 4th of July fireworks display. On the 4th of July, as a reminder, leave the fireworks up to the professionals. And so more information about that show can be found on our website. We'll put it in the show notes or you can visit arvadacogov slash fireworks. And then on July 13th we have our annual craft beer and barbecue festival, arvada on Tap. That's at Ralston Park Edition, right over there by Arvada West High School. You want to go ahead and buy your tickets ahead of the day of the event, because that way you can save $10 per ticket and you get unlimited beer tasting and barbecue sampling at that event and it's for a good cause as well. Proceeds benefit our community service partners that help put on that event the Arvada Jefferson Kiwanis Club, arvada Sunrise Rotary and the Arvada Vitality Alliance. And then on July 19th it's a Friday we have our next Movies Around Town. We've got Jaws showing at Lake Arbor Park. I think that was on purpose there Jaws at Lake Arbor Park. So Barbie was our first event over at Homestead Park. That was a fun event. So if you haven't been to a Movies Around Town circle July 19th for Jaws. And then finally, save the date for August 24th. That's our annual Arvada Days Festival. That's a end of the summer celebration, super family-friendly event there at Clear Creek Valley Park.

Sean:

And thank you to our guest once again today, evelyn Rhodes. Be sure to listen to our next episode. It's going to be a bit of a special edition of the podcast where you, the community member, is going to be our guest as we celebrate Park and Recreation Month this July. And, as always, to stay in touch with the podcast, you can visit our webpage at arvadacogov slash podcast where you can subscribe on Apple, on Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts, and you can always reach out to us with questions or feedback at podcastarvadaorg. Thank you everyone for tuning in, for listening. If you haven't already, please subscribe and give us a rating. That helps us spread the word and grow the podcast. Today's podcast was recorded and edited by Arvada Media Services producer James Long, and I'll leave you with this fun fact A typical household in Arvada uses about 260 gallons of water daily, delivered right to their home, all for less than a penny a gallon.

Katie:

Whoa.