Town finally has safe drinking water after 6 years of radium contamination: “Such a relief”
By Olivia Young
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DOUGLAS COUNTY, Colorado (KCNC) — Neighbors in the small Douglas County community of Louviers can finally put their water worries downstream. After six years of dealing with radium-contaminated water flowing through the pipes, the water in town is finally safe to drink again.
“We love our village,” said Louviers resident LaVona Quinn. “When I moved here, 36 years ago, I lived next door to one of the couples that worked for DuPont. So I’ve heard all the old stories, the good old stories, and about the village.”
Founded in 1906 as a company town for DuPont, Louviers is rich in history — and minerals.
“It’s one of those communities where if something happens, your community is going to be there for you,” said Matt Collitt, president of the Louviers Water & Sanitation District Board of Directors.
Collitt says all 113 taps in town get their water from the Arapahoe aquifer.
But that geology spelled a problem in February 2020, when CDPHE issued a violation order. The community’s water had tested above the maximum contaminant level allowed for radium. That level is 5.0 picocuries per liter (pCi/L), and it’s set by the EPA.
Letters to Louviers Water & Sanitation District customers show that high radium levels started showing up in tests in 2018, with results as high as 9.3 pCi/L in early 2019.
“Huge shock. What is radium?” said Collitt.
Radium is a radioactive element. It’s naturally occurring in Colorado and can’t be tasted in water.
CDPHE says people who drink water with radium levels above 5 pCi/L for many years have an increased risk of cancer.
Louviers is not the first Douglas County community to encounter the issue.
“How do I describe this to the residents of the community? How do I tell them that their water is not safe to drink?” said Collitt.
Neighbors like Quinn have had water delivered ever since.
“It’s a little scary, but I wasn’t too blown away by it,” said Quinn.
“How do we fix this? Right? Because, you know, it’s going to be money, it’s going to cost a lot,” said Collitt.
After exploring different solutions, the water district was eventually able to secure $1.5 million to build a new water treatment facility, including an ion exchange filtration system that removes radium.
“I’m not an engineer, but it just basically takes molecules, and it takes the radium and attaches it to the isotopes of the ion,” said Collitt.
The money came largely from Douglas County American Rescue Plan dollars, as well as CDPHE and EPA grants.
“We’re under the radar, and we like that too. But when we need help, there’s help,” said Collitt.
While the cost of the new facility was covered by grants, there is now about an $8 fee per tap per month for operations of the new system.
When that system went online in late 2025, the tap water was finally tested safe. A Louviers Water & Sanitation representative says the recent levels have been under 1 pCi/L radium.
In March of 2026, CDPHE found the water district officially in compliance.
“It’s such a relief. I don’t know how to explain it,” said Collitt.
It means neighbors like Quinn can finally drink the tap water again.
“I think everybody’s really thankful about the water and all our big project that’s going on, the new water line,” said Quinn.
“The community is really patient with us, and they could see we were doing well, and it resulted in the solution,” said Collitt.
Collitt says there’s still about $6.5 million in infrastructure improvements needed on the water system.
Right now, the district is using a different $1 million EPA grant to replace its aging waterlines.
The water district’s next big hurdle is connecting to a larger water provider for emergencies. It’s an idea that became a priority after the Airport Fire last year, which was stopped just feet from some Louviers homes.
“I think we pivoted from radium to fire flow. So now we want to make sure when, if a fire truck shows up, it can hook to that fire hydrant and have the capacity to put out a fire,” said Collitt.
Collitt says the district is in discussions with local water providers like Dominion Water & Sanitation District, which serves Sterling Ranch.
“We think that there will eventually be a solution, and we can connect, at least in emergency capacity, to another water provider. So we are hoping Dominion eventually will. We’re not very confident of that. We have kept relations open with Roxborough Water and Sanitation District, and we can develop relationships with Highlands Ranch Water, for example,” said Collitt.
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