Griswold Water Purification Facility
The Griswold Water Purification Facility was constructed in 1967. The treatment plant was built as a direct filtration drinking water treatment plant, and was originally named after former Aurora Public Works Director Leonard R. Kuiper.
In 2001, the facility was renamed in honor of Aurora’s former Utilities Director, Thomas Griswold, who served as Aurora’s Utilities Director from 1986 through 2001. When built, the plant was designed to treat a maximum of 20 million gallons per day (MGD). In 1972, the plant was expanded to treat approximately 40 MGD and in 1976, was again expanded to 70 MGD. The facility underwent further renovations and maintenance between 1999 and 2001.
In 2012, the Griswold Water Purification Facility received the “Excellence in Water Treatment” distinction from the Partnership for Safe Water, the highest designation available.
Wemlinger Water Purification Facility
The Wemlinger Water Purification Facility was completed in 1983 as a 40 MGD facility and was originally named the Quincy Water Treatment Plant.
The facility was renamed after Charles Wemlinger, Utilities Director from 1963 to 1986 following an expansion of the facility in 1986 that increased its treatment capacity to approximately 60 MGD. Expansion and improvements to the plant completed in 2004 increased its capacity to 80 MGD and improved its operational flexibility in treating the variety of water sources available to the City.
In 2008, the Wemlinger Water Purification Facility received the “Excellence in Water Treatment” distinction from the Partnership for Safe Water, the highest designation available.
Binney Water Purification Facility
The Binney Water Purification Facility was completed in 2010 as part of the Prairie Waters system. The Binney facility is named after Peter D. Binney, Director of Aurora Water from 2002 to 2008.
Binney is a state-of-the-art facility with two separate treatment trains and has a combined treatment capacity of 50 MGD. The first treatment train utilizes a conventional treatment process and uses mountain water stored in Aurora Reservoir. The second train is for the South Platte River water and uses a multibarrier process for the, including riverbank filtration, aquifer recharge and recovery, precipitative softening, ultraviolet light coupled with advanced oxidation, biological activated carbon filtration and activated carbon adsorption. Water from both treatment trains are then combined to ensure that it is indistinguishable from our other supplies.
In 2016, the Binney Water Purification Facility received the “Excellence in Water Treatment” distinction from the Partnership for Safe Water, the highest designation available.