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City of Boulder

The City of Boulder is the public water system serving 166,080 people in Boulder County, from surface water. It also sells water wholesale to 6 systems.
Community system · EPA id CO0107152 · filed with EPA as “BOULDER CITY OF”

Serves Boulder, Gunbarrel.

People served
166,080
Service connections
31,959
Primary source
Surface water
Owner
Local government
Counties served
Boulder
Water district

Its service area also reaches St. Vrain Creek (9.0%).

Boundary traced. About 64 km².

Where the water comes from

FacilityKindWater
BARKER RESERVOIRIntakeSurface water
LAKEWOOD RESERVOIR INTAKEIntakeSurface water
BOULDER FEEDER CANEL INTAKEIntakeSurface water
BOULDER RESERVOIR BASIN INTAKEIntakeSurface water

These are EPA's facility records, not DWR structures. Which decreed rights sit behind an intake is the next phase; nothing here is inferred.

DWR structures that name this system

Source Probable join · fetched 2026-09-09 · matched on DWR's recorded contact or an EPA intake name; verify on the dossier

38 structures on DWR's record name this system as their contact (38). A match says who DWR lists, not who owns the water: a ditch company can own the headgate while the system owns shares, and a consultant can be the contact. The dossier holds the decree.

StructureTypeSourceDistrictMatched on
ALBION RES 0604269 RESERVOIR NORTH BOULDER CREEK Boulder Creek contact: BOULDER, CITY OF
ARAPAHOE PIT M-1977-077 AUG 0602533 AUGMENTATION/REPLACEMENT PLAN UNDEFINED Boulder Creek contact: BOULDER, CITY OF
BARKER MEADOW RES 0604172 RESERVOIR MIDDLE BOULDER CREEK Boulder Creek contact: BOULDER, CITY OF
BOULDER CITY PL 0600599 PIPELINE NORTH BOULDER CREEK Boulder Creek contact: BOULDER, CITY OF
BOULDER CR MIN FLOW C 0602100 MINIMUM FLOW BOULDER CREEK Boulder Creek contact: BOULDER, CITY OF
BOULDER ENTITY WDID 0602529 AUGMENTATION/REPLACEMENT PLAN UNDEFINED Boulder Creek contact: BOULDER, CITY OF
BOULDER KIDS FISHING PONDS AUG 0602544 AUGMENTATION/REPLACEMENT PLAN UNDEFINED Boulder Creek contact: BOULDER, CITY OF
BOULDER PL 3 AT BARKER R 0600943 PIPELINE MIDDLE BOULDER CREEK Boulder Creek contact: BOULDER, CITY OF
BOULDER SEWER 0602314 OTHER BOULDER CREEK Boulder Creek contact: BOULDER, CITY OF
BOULDER UTE PARK AUG 0602508 AUGMENTATION/REPLACEMENT PLAN UNDEFINED Boulder Creek contact: BOULDER, CITY OF
BRENTON BUILDING DEWATERING AUG 0602553 AUGMENTATION/REPLACEMENT PLAN UNDEFINED Boulder Creek contact: BOULDER, CITY OF (LHERITIER, ISABELLE)
DAVIS RES 1&2 0604175 RESERVOIR BOULDER CREEK Boulder Creek contact: BOULDER COUNTY
E BOULDER PARKS AUG 0602659 AUGMENTATION/REPLACEMENT PLAN UNDEFINED Boulder Creek contact: BOULDER, CITY OF
GERHARDT DITCH 0600862 DITCH ROCK CREEK Boulder Creek contact: COUNTY OF BOULDER
GLACIER SUMMER CITY D 0600660 DITCH NORTH BOULDER CREEK Boulder Creek contact: BOULDER, CITY OF
GOOSE LAKE 0604489 RESERVOIR NORTH BOULDER CREEK Boulder Creek contact: BOULDER, CITY OF
GREEN LAKE RES NO 1 0604252 RESERVOIR NORTH BOULDER CREEK Boulder Creek contact: BOULDER, CITY OF
GREEN LAKE RES NO 2 0604253 RESERVOIR NORTH BOULDER CREEK Boulder Creek contact: BOULDER, CITY OF
GREEN LAKE RES NO 3 0604254 RESERVOIR NORTH BOULDER CREEK Boulder Creek contact: BOULDER, CITY OF
GREEN LAKE RES NO 4 0604255 RESERVOIR NORTH BOULDER CREEK Boulder Creek contact: BOULDER, CITY OF
GREEN LAKE RES NO 5 0604256 RESERVOIR NORTH BOULDER CREEK Boulder Creek contact: BOULDER, CITY OF
HARRIS DITCH 0600611 DITCH COAL CREEK Boulder Creek contact: BOULDER COUNTY
HERON LAKE 0603363 RESERVOIR SOUTH BOULDER CREEK Boulder Creek contact: COUNTY OF BOULDER
ISLAND LAKE 0604236 RESERVOIR NORTH BOULDER CREEK Boulder Creek contact: BOULDER, CITY OF
L F SPICER DITCH 0600691 DITCH BOULDER CREEK Boulder Creek contact: BOULDER, CITY OF
NORTH BOULDER FARMERS D 12TH ST RETURN 0602307 OTHER BOULDER CREEK Boulder Creek contact: BOULDER COUNTY
SILVER LAKE 0604238 RESERVOIR NORTH BOULDER CREEK Boulder Creek contact: BOULDER, CITY OF
T N WILLIS DITCH 0600622 DITCH COAL CREEK Boulder Creek contact: BOULDER COUNTY
TELLER LAKE RES NO 5 0604228 RESERVOIR SOUTH BOULDER CREEK Boulder Creek contact: BOULDER, CITY OF
WALDEN & SAWHILL NORTH DITCH 0600778 DITCH BOULDER CREEK Boulder Creek contact: BOULDER COUNTY
WALDEN & SAWHILL PONDS 0604026 WELL GROUNDWATER: BOULDER CREEK Boulder Creek contact: BOULDER COUNTY
WALDEN & SAWHILL SOUTH DITCH 0600779 DITCH BOULDER CREEK Boulder Creek contact: BOULDER COUNTY
WALDEN PONDS 0604014 WELL GROUNDWATER: BOULDER CREEK Boulder Creek contact: BOULDER COUNTY
WALDEN PONDS AUG 0602667 AUGMENTATION/REPLACEMENT PLAN UNDEFINED Boulder Creek contact: BOULDER COUNTY
WILLIAM C HAKE DITCH 0600621 DITCH COAL CREEK Boulder Creek contact: BOULDER, CITY OF
WITTEMYER POND NO 3 0604011 RESERVOIR BOULDER CREEK Boulder Creek contact: COUNTY OF BOULDER
WITTEMYER POND NO 4 0604012 RESERVOIR BOULDER CREEK Boulder Creek contact: COUNTY OF BOULDER
WITTEMYER POND NO 5 0604013 RESERVOIR BOULDER CREEK Boulder Creek contact: COUNTY OF BOULDER

Compliance record

Source Register of another agency · fetched 2026-09-09 · verify at EPA ECHO ↗

Nothing open today, but 2 health-based violations appear on the federal record historically. The history is below.

EPA's own summary: violations in 1 of the last 12 quarters. In violation for, in EPA's words: 0300=Interim Enhanced Surface Water Treatment Rule.

What happened

All 2 violation records on file, grouped into the 1 distinct thing EPA's codes describe. Dates are the compliance period the violation is filed against.

MCL, Average — Total Haloacetic Acids (HAA5) health-based
A measured contaminant level went over the federal limit. 2 records, 2017-04-01 to 2017-07-01. Highest measured: 0.061 MG/L against a limit of 0.06.
Rule: Stage 2 Disinfectants and Disinfection Byproducts Rule.
Every violation record, as filed (2 of 2)
Compliance periodWhatAboutKindStatusMeasured
2017-07-01 – 2017-09-30 MCL, Average Total Haloacetic Acids (HAA5) health-based returned to compliance (2017-12-05) 0.061 MG/L (limit 0.06)
2017-04-01 – 2017-06-30 MCL, Average Total Haloacetic Acids (HAA5) health-based returned to compliance (2017-12-05) 0.06081 MG/L

What the regulator did about it

22 enforcement actions on this system's federal record. In Colorado the state is the primacy agency, so most actions are the state's; EPA acts directly on tribal systems and when it steps in.

DateActionBy
2024-12-04 St Compliance achieved
SOX MOR submitted in accordance with the rule FCL 1/28/2025
state
2024-11-05 St Violation/Reminder Notice state
2024-11-05 St Public Notif requested state
2023-03-24 St Public Notif received
PN met with CCR. slh 3/31/2023
state
2022-08-03 St Compliance achieved state
2022-07-18 St Violation/Reminder Notice state
2022-07-18 St Public Notif requested state
2017-12-05 St Compliance achieved state
2017-11-09 St Public Notif received state
2017-10-25 St Violation/Reminder Notice state
2017-10-25 St Public Notif requested state
2017-08-04 St Public Notif received state
2017-07-11 St Violation/Reminder Notice state
2017-07-11 St Public Notif requested state
2017-06-28 St Public Notif received state
2017-03-02 St Compliance achieved state
2017-02-23 St Violation/Reminder Notice state
2017-02-23 St Public Notif requested state
2017-02-23 St Violation/Reminder Notice state
2017-02-23 St Public Notif requested state

20 most recent of 22; the rest are on the ECHO report.

Lead and copper

The latest 90th-percentile lead result is 0.002 mg/L (sampling period ending 2025-12-31) against an action level of 0.015 mg/L, below it. 7 results on file.

The action level is not a health limit: it is the level at which the rule requires a system to act (corrosion control, public education, and in some cases replacing lead service lines). Lead mostly enters water from household plumbing, so a system-wide percentile does not tell you what comes out of one tap.

Violation, enforcement and lead/copper records are EPA SDWIS federal reporting, fetched monthly; the summary is EPA ECHO. Code names come from EPA's own REF_CODE_VALUE table. SDWIS carries violations, not routine sample results — nitrate, disinfection by-product and PFAS values are not in it, and a clean record here means nothing was reported as a violation, not that nothing was ever detected. For what was measured, ask the system for its Consumer Confidence Report.

PFAS and lithium: EPA's UCMR 5 monitoring, 2023–2025

Source Register of another agency · fetched 2026-09-09 · verify at EPA UCMR occurrence data ↗

11 samples, 240 results, 2023-02-14 to 2023-11-06. No PFAS was detected at the reporting limits; lithium was not detected.

ContaminantResultsDetectedHighest, µg/LReporting limit
HFPO-DA 8 0 < 0.005 0.005
PFHxS 8 0 < 0.003 0.003
PFNA 8 0 < 0.004 0.004
PFOA 8 0 < 0.004 0.004
PFOS 8 0 < 0.004 0.004
lithium 8 0 < 9.0 9.0

Rows shown: every detected contaminant plus the regulated PFAS and lithium; the rest were below their reporting limits. These are UCMR monitoring samples, not compliance samples. EPA's April 2024 rule set 4.0 ng/L (0.004 µg/L) for PFOA and PFOS, the same as UCMR 5's reporting limit, so any detection of either is at or above it; the rule's compliance date and its other limits have been under revision since 2025 and are not applied here. State PFAS sampling is on CDPHE's pages ↗.

Common questions

Who provides drinking water in Boulder, Colorado?

The City of Boulder is the public water system serving 166,080 people in Boulder County, from surface water. Its EPA public water system id is CO0107152.

Where does the City of Boulder get its water?

The City of Boulder reports surface water as its primary source. EPA lists its source facilities as BARKER RESERVOIR, LAKEWOOD RESERVOIR INTAKE, BOULDER FEEDER CANEL INTAKE, BOULDER RESERVOIR BASIN INTAKE.

Does the City of Boulder have any drinking water violations?

EPA's compliance record shows no open health-based violations for the City of Boulder at the last monthly fetch. Older and non-health-based entries, if any, are listed on this page.

Places this system serves

Census places its EPA service-area boundary substantially covers. Each page lists every system serving that place.

Every provider in Boulder County.

The record

EPA SDWIS federal reporting as of 2026-09-08; the compliance record above is EPA's own, fetched monthly, and the ECHO report carries the rest. Report a problem →