Water Is For Fighting

In our first episode we examine how the history and legend of pure Rocky Mountain water blinded many Denver residents to water contamination issues. Not until the Flint Water Crisis did authorities start investigating potential lead poisoning within the Denver Community.

A brief history on the vital role the South Platte River played in the lives of native tribes and in the founding of Denver provides context for the modern issues still effecting the Denver water systems. The recent detection of lead in the drinking water, caused by the corrosion of lead service lines into private homes and businesses, precipitated a legal battle and a large-scale Lead Reduction Program spearheaded by Denver Water.

Water Is For Fighting explores the complexities of water in the Western United States. Our first season, focuses on the South Platte River in Colorado: a critical water source for over 4.5 million people. The story of the South Platte River is told at the intersection of natural and human history, socio-economics, law, science, and folklore. Through it all is Americans’ complicated love affair with wilderness and the Myth of the Frontier. Ultimately, we demonstrate how this mythos turned water into such a contentious resource, and why, in the West, “whiskey is for drinking, and water is for fighting.”

In our previous episode, we discovered how aging infrastructure has contributed to a growing concern of the general public's surrounding water quality. In this episode, we address those concerns head on by diving into the science behind water treatment to answer several questions about what exactly is in the water.

Again, we go back in time to understand how water quality was handled historically and how contemporary engineers and scientists are now hard at work mitigating many factors that make it challenging to make our water safe today. Part of that challenge is simply helping citizens better understand how water treatment works and combatting widespread misinformation.