Keep better tabs on tap danger, city told

Testing of valves that keep pesticides, E. coli from water falls behind

Daniel J. Chacon, Rocky Mountain News

Published May 17, 2007 at midnight

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You may think twice the next time you drink tap water in Denver.

For several years, the city's Parks and Recreation Department has failed to test hundreds of devices that prevent pesticides and other dangerous substances from slipping into the treated water system and into residents' pipes.

Last month, Denver Water threatened to shut off the city's water service and get the state involved if the parks department didn't get its act together.

"Noncompliance must be dealt with not only as an ethical responsibility to the public, but in order for Denver Water to be in compliance with state regulations," wrote Robert Stevens, a Denver Water supervisor. "This means that Denver Water must ultimately deal with noncompliance by discontinuing water service."

The devices are designed to permit water to flow one way. They contain two valves that snap shut if negative water pressure threatens to reverse the flow. They primarily are used in sprinkler systems.

If the backflow devices fail, Stevens warned, drinking water can be contaminated with herbicides, pesticides, E. coli and other potential hazards.

Marlena Fernández Berkowitz, a spokeswoman for Mayor John Hickenlooper, said the testing lapses are the result of staff reductions because of budget cuts and "staff turnover that limited the number of certified individuals who could perform the tests."

Berkowitz said there haven't been any reports of contaminated water or devices failing, which Denver Water confirmed.

"We're conducting water quality tests throughout the system on a continual basis," said Trina McGuire-Collier, a spokeswoman for Denver Water. "You might not catch it right at that moment of contamination, but you would find it fairly quickly."

However, Denver Water conducts far fewer tests after its water leaves the treatment plant.

It's possible a foreign substance ended up in a faucet, though the chance is "extremely low," said Chips Barry, Denver Water's general manager.

"You have to have a submerged irrigation head, some kind of contaminant in the water, a pressure drop in the main system and a failure of a backflow preventer, all at the same time," he said. "If all those happen, yes, there's a risk."

The kind of materials the parks department uses are "not typically inherently dangerous," he said.

"It's not going to be something designed to embalm someone or chrome-plate something," he said.

Still, Stevens said, the parks department's backflow devices pose a high potential for contamination. He said 85 percent are out of compliance.

The mayor's office downplayed the seriousness of the issue.

Under normal circumstances, Berkowitz said, between 5 percent and 10 percent of the devices fail an initial test. They must be repaired and retested. Of those, fewer than 5 percent were actually in disrepair, she said.

"When we needed to adjust for budget cuts, we were confident that there was little chance of a public health issue," she said.

Berkowitz said the city's Purchasing Department will seek bids from private contractors to help conduct the tests.

By state law, the parks department is supposed to test its 800 backflow devices annually.

Last year, it tested 125.

Denver Water has issued a third and final notice on more than half of all the devices.

"It's absolutely concerning," McGuire- Collier said. "But we understand the challenges that they face in trying to test 800 backflow preventers given the problems they've had in keeping staff and the fact that their budgets have been so severely cut."

Denver Water would be more concerned if the city hadn't been "making some real attempts in recent months to get this corrected," McGuire-Collier said.

"They're showing us that they intend to get this corrected very quickly, and that's why we've been . . . a bit more flexible in allowing them this time," she said.

Backflow checks scaled back in recent years

Denver's Parks and Recreation Department has failed to complete required annual tests on 800 backflow devices. Records show a steady decline in the number tested each year after 2003:

2002 444

2003 472

2004 350

2005 159

2006 125Source: City And County Of Denver

chacond@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5099

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