City Ditch Piping Project

Project Description

Delivering safe, dependable drinking water to Englewood residents is a top priority for the City of Englewood. While Englewood’s water already meets drinking water regulations, the source of our water can affect the taste, odor and hardness from time to time. The City’s primary water supply is delivered through the City Ditch. Water travels by gravity from Chatfield Reservoir to Englewood through a combination of buried pipeline, overhead flumes, and open channel ditch through parts of unincorporated Douglas and Arapahoe Counties and Littleton before reaching Englewood’s Allen Water Treatment Plant (Allen WTP). City Ditch is one of the City’s most critical water infrastructure assets.

Englewood is planning to convert its remaining 2.5-miles of open channel sections between Chatfield Reservoir and the Allen WTP to buried pipe and, if needed, replace existing pipe.

This project will result in numerous benefits to the City and its customers including:

• Raw water delivered from Chatfield through City Ditch is better than water that is diverted from the South Platte River at the Union Avenue intake.
• Improving our drinking water's taste and odor by allowing for increased usage of City Ditch.
• Improving the system's reliability and safety by eliminating possibility for contamination through the open channel ditch sections.
• Helping the City manage drought and climate change by limiting water loss.
• Reducing energy use and annual operating and maintenance costs for raw water delivery.
• Reducing or avoiding the need for capital improvement projects at the Allen WTP or Union Avenue Pump Station.

Importance of City Ditch

City Ditch is a water supply conveyance system that has been in existence for over 150 years. In addition to being the primary source of drinking water for the City of Englewood, City Ditch delivers water to contract users in Littleton, Englewood and Denver. Englewood owns and operates City Ditch between Chatfield Reservoir and Harvard Gulch Park.

Project Plan

Englewood Utilities began the design engineering phase of this project in the fall of 2022. Jacobs Engineering Group was selected to:

• Conduct a study to review and map the existing system.
• Analyze the capacity and hydraulics of a piped system.
• Evaluate easements and alternative pipe alignments.
• Understand the extent of rehabilitation or replacement- required needed in the existing piped sections

Various alignments are being evaluated and vetted for technical suitability, cost and public interest issues. Permitting, compliance, and detailed design will occur this year. Construction is planned to begin in early 2024 with anticipated completion in 2025.

Converting to Pipe

The majority of the approximate 6.5 miles of City Ditch between Chatfield Reservoir and the Allen WTP is already piped. With this project, Englewood plans to convert the remaining 2.5-miles of open channel between Chatfield Reservoir and the Allen WTP to buried pipe and, if needed, replace existing pipe. The four reaches of the ditch to be converted to pipe include:

• McLellan Pump Station to Mineral Ave.
• Linhart Lake to Littleton Cemetery
• Slaughterhouse Gulch Park to Belleview Ave.
• Belleview Park area

City Ditch piping in Belleview Park will be primarily limited to the northern end of the park and two blocks north of the area. The final project will not affect Big Dry Creek, which is popular for wading and fishing. This project does not include areas of City Ditch between the Allen WTP and Harvard Gulch Park, and water will continue to flow through existing open channel in that stretch.

Paying for the Project

While all projects completed by the City have an impact on rates and fees, the costs for this project are part of our long-term financial plan. The monthly Capital Improvement Fee (CIF) funds capital projects such as this one to improve the taste, odor and hardness of the water. Additionally, other water users of City Ditch may contribute to infrastructure costs. The return on this investment will be better drinking water to serve our citizens and local businesses.