THE HYDROLOGIC CYCLE

Water evaporates. It travels into the air and becomes part of a cloud. It falls down to earth as precipitation. Then it evaporates again. This repeats over and over again in a never-ending cycle. This hydrologic cycle never stops. Water keeps moving and changing from a solid to a liquid to a gas, over and over again.

Precipitation creates runoff that travels over the ground surface and helps to fill lakes and rivers. It also infiltrates or moves downward through openings in the soil to replenish aquifers under the ground. Some places receive more precipitation than others. These areas are usually close to oceans or large bodies of water that allow more water to evaporate and form clouds. Other areas receive less precipitation. Often these areas are far from water or near mountains. As clouds move up and over mountains, the water vapor condenses to form precipitation and freezes. Snow falls on the peaks.

ABOUT BROOMFIELD WATER AND FIRE SAFETY

Careful planning, facility construction and water acquisitions in Broomfield have been designed to assure current and future Broomfield residents of adequate drinking water, and superior fire protection capacity. Broomfield’s operation of the municipal potable water system is and always has been of the highest caliber. Broomfield has information from other cities, from independent professional engineering organizations and from the fire district that its water system meets or exceeds industry standards, and that the water pressure is sufficient for firefighting whenever it becomes necessary.  The City and County of Broomfield had an independent registered professional engineer with experience in municipal water systems review the design and operation of the City and County of Broomfield's municipal water system. The review found that Broomfield's municipal water system is well within industry standards and that the water pressure provided is more than adequate for domestic needs and fire suppression requirements.   Another testament to the high quality of the city’s water system is Broomfield's ISO rating  which reflects fire suppression capabilities. Broomfield’s rating is 2 out of 10, with 10 being the worst rating.  ISO uses the Fire Suppression Rating Schedule (FSRS) manual in reviewing the fire-fighting capabilities of individual communities to measure the major elements of a community's fire-suppression system.  Please note that this rating also figures favorably in to Broomfield’s property insurance rates.