Fort Collins Switches to Horsetooth For Clear Drinking Water

It's always good to have a backup, especially when it comes to drinking water. Fort Collins has implemented its backup plan for when the Poudre cannot provide.

If you're heading out to Horsetooth Reservoir anytime soon, you may take a look to see if you can see where the City of Fort Collins is taking some of the reservoir's water to use for the city's drinking water.

The recent storms and flooding along the Poudre River have made the water that Fort Collins uses for drinking water, 'unfeasible to treat,' and have started taking water from Horsetooth. I wonder, though the water is being treated, does the water taste different?

For many, 'where' the drinking water comes from doesn't really cross our minds until something like this comes up. You just turn on the tap and drink/use it. Meanwhile, there have been city workers monitoring the water that comes from the Poudre, finding that it's too full of ash, sediment, and debris to use, and flipping switches to turn the Poudre intake, to use only Horsetooth Reservoir water.

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Fort Collins, and people in the nearby areas, will be dealing with the Cameron Peak Fire some time. The rains have no place to go, which causes flooding; flooding brings debris, like cars, down the river, making it unsafe to be on; and the ash from the fire gets into the river and therefore into the water that's to be used for drinking water.