Parkites for decades wondered about the water that was coming out of the tap. Some understood the water source may be an underground tunnel in a community where the silver-mining industry bored through the earth underneath the mountains. Others realized there were a variety of contaminants like arsenic in the drinking water.
But after years of City Hall efforts to improve the waterworks system, Park City residents have significantly more confidence in the municipal water. The National Community Survey, conducted in late 2022 and early 2023 and offering a reading of sentiments about a wide range of Park City issues, inquired about the quality of drinking water.
The survey found 75% of the respondents rated the quality of the drinking water as excellent or good. While the 75% tally was well below the ratings in other categories, it represented an extraordinary increase in the confidence in drinking water over time. The 75% was an increase of 32 percentage points from the 43% result in the survey conducted in 2011. The 32-percentage-point difference to the positive side was the largest individual increase between the surveys, which covered approximately 150 topics. A related topic, inquiring about water resources, garnered a 70% excellent or good rating. That topic was not covered in the earlier surveys.
“I’m proud of the survey results, it is evidence that the community has observed a transformation in the quality of water service in Park City over the past 10 years. I’m also proud of every employee in the Public Utilities Department and the work they do every day to ensure we produce and deliver the best water possible to our community. Residents, businesses, and visitors should continue to have full confidence in Park City’s drinking water,” Clint McAffee, who is the public utilities director at City Hall and oversees the waterworks system, said in a prepared statement in response to a Park Record inquiry about the survey results.
Park City’s struggles with the quality of the drinking water were for years a strike against the municipal government, as rank-and-file Parkites wondered why such a wealthy community had so many difficulties with what is seen as a basic service. There was discolored water, elevated levels of contaminants and a preference by some Parkites to drink bottled water. City Hall over time took important steps to address water quality as leaders across mayoral administrations since the 1990s saw the efforts as crucial.
Park City has drawn all or some of its drinking water from underground sources since its founding as a silver-mining camp in the 19th century. The water that drained from the mine tunnels carried with it the contaminants that became so problematic. McAffee said the water from the mine tunnels presented “a constant challenge due to naturally occurring metals contained in the water.”
Improvements were made to the waterworks system over the decades, addressing quality, capacity and, critical in a community with elevation gains like those of Park City, delivery. The construction of a water-treatment plant on the edge of Thaynes Canyon, known as the Spiro facility, in the 1990s was one of the notable projects. The work expanded in the decade-plus since 2010, including a restructuring of the Public Utilities Department that led to the creation of divisions dedicated to water quality and water treatment, among other, related issues.
The Public Utilities Department said more than $140 million has been spent in the last 10 years on infrastructure and programs addressing water quality and the reliability of the municipal water supply. The 3Kings Water Treatment Plant in Thaynes Canyon is, according to McAffee, “the keystone element of the water quality improvements.”
The plant is designed to treat water that flows out of the Judge Tunnel, the Spiro Tunnel and Thiriot Springs. It is expected to begin producing drinking water later in 2023. The Public Utilities Department said the 3Kings Water Treatment Plant will have the capability to produce 7 million gallons of drinking water on a daily basis. The facility is expected to provide most of the community’s drinking water starting in the summer. It is also designed to improve the quality of the water in McLeod Creek.
The Public Utilities Department, meanwhile, listed a series of projects over the past decade that may have helped increase the National Community Survey results. They include:
• improvements at the Quinn’s Water Treatment Plant, which were designed to further reduce the amount of organic contaminants.
• the construction of the Creekside Water Treatment Plant, which added filtration to a well in Park Meadows.
• dredging the ponds at the Park City Golf Club course to remove sediment that had collected over a span of longer than 50 years. The project aided the Spiro Tunnel water source.
• the replacement of the Empire Tank water-storage facility, located near the Judge Tunnel water source.
• the extension of a raw water line between McLeod Creek and the Rockport Reservoir.
The Public Utilities Department also points to water-conservation efforts as part of the overall program.
The municipal 2021 water quality consumer confidence report, the most recent published, showed zero categories of contaminants at levels that would violate drinking-water standards.