Saving lives and saving water

How CRFD conserved 3.5 million gallons of water in one year

Each year, Castle Rock Fire and Rescue conducts tests on every fire truck pump, as mandated by the National Fire Protection Association. During the annual test, an apparatus pump blasts out water in order to measure the gallons per minute discharged, which helps find any signs of damage or underperformance. When a pump does not work correctly, it could affect CRFD’s response to an emergency.

When a traditional test is conducted with no additional conservation measures in place, the water that comes from the pump pools on the ground. One typical apparatus pump test requires about 64,750 gallons of water.

When testing the whole CRFD fleet, this amounts to about 500,000 gallons used per year for the larger fire apparatus. This practice led Logistics Division Chief Jim Gile to spot an opportunity to make a positive difference for the Town.

“On the Colorado Front Range, we not only have elevation to deal with, but we also have desert," explained Gile. “Therefore, if we waste water and it runs onto the ground, it is gone. We don’t get it back.”

In 2018, Gile submitted a proposal to procure a pump test trailer, called a Draft Commander. The Draft Commander holds 2,000 gallons of water, and CRFD recycles

Castle Rock Fire And Rescue

HOW MUCH WATER?

Castle Rock Fire and Rescue conducts an annual test on every fire truck pump, as mandated by the National Fire Protection Association. With the help of the Draft Commander trailer, CRFD is helping conserve water with each pump test. Each jug represents 1,000 gallons of water. All numbers are approximate. The figures represent a normal annual pump test and may vary based on setup time and testing efficiency.

water from the Draft Commander, through the fire pump on the apparatus, and back into the Draft Commander.

“By recycling water in the Draft Commander trailer, we’re able to reuse this small amount of water to pump test,” explained Gile.

In the first year of using the Draft Commander, CRFD had just acquired several new apparatus that needed to go through additional pump testing. Without the pump test trailer, the team would have used 3.5 million more gallons of water, compared to only 2,000 gallons of water that was used.

In total, CRFD has conserved over 5.5 million gallons of water since the program began in 2019. Their success earned the Logistics Division a Town of Castle Rock Project Green Award for its water-saving efforts last year. CRFD has expanded this program and conducts annual testing for neighboring fire departments.

“We want to show residents that we’re taking the time to protect our resources. As a department that uses water in day-to-day work, we are always looking for opportunities to conserve wherever we can,” said

New landscaping coming to Fire Stations 153 and 154

Landscaping improvements are planned for Station 153 in Founders Village and Station 154 in The Meadows. Both locations will receive a ColoradoScape update that incorporates low- to very-low-water-use plant materials.

The Fire Department, in partnership with Castle Rock Water, completed initial inspections and landscaping designs and will remove highwater-use Kentucky Bluegrass at both locations. CRFD plans to begin these landscaping updates this spring, pending funding.

Learn more about ColoradoScaping on Page 12.

Fire Chief Norris Croom. “Castle Rock is one of the best places to live and call home, and we want to do our part to secure water resources for generations of residents to come.”