DOE/EA-2171: Notice of Scoping

Flatirons Campus Water System Project; Jefferson County, Colorado

The NREL FC (formerly known as the National Wind Technology Center) is DOE’s primary site for research, development, and testing of wind energy and distributed generation technologies. Research conducted at the FC focuses on collaboration with industry to further wind technology and to accelerate its commercialization in the marketplace. The FC is located on US Highway 93, about 25 miles north of Golden, Colorado and about five miles south of Boulder, Colorado. The FC is approximately 37 miles west of Denver International Airport.

In recent years, the research mission of the FC has greatly expanded to include water power and grid integration work and is anticipated to continue to expand in the future. The future growth of the FC, which involves both increasing the number of staff and construction of new and/or upgraded research facilities on the campus, is directly dependent on providing more robust water utility services. The purpose of the proposed project being analyzed under this EA is to provide code compliant water systems to the FC, including domestic water, fire suppression water, and wastewater systems. The proposed project would involve the reuse of an existing water line and construction of new water line segments from the Smart Reservoir, located in the southwest corner of the Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge (Refuge) adjacent to the FC, to a new water treatment facility on the FC. The Refuge, which was established in 2007, is managed by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service as part of the Colorado Front Range National Wildlife Refuge Complex. The existing water line that would be reused was once used to service the Rocky Flats Plant. The wastewater system that would be installed would support the Control Center Facility which would be constructed to provide computing and data visualization capabilities at the FC.

For more information, see the Flatirons Campus Water System Project page.

Public Comment Opportunities

None available at this time