How a research trailer parked at South Platte Renew helped brew a Helles lager from 100% purified recycled water — and what that pint says about Colorado's water future.
A PARC story · about a four-minute read
Every fact in this story comes from SPR's own public materials — chiefly the episode notes of the PARC Innovation Flow podcast, checked June 9, 2026. Nothing here is invented.
01
Twenty million gallons
Every day, roughly 20 million gallons of wastewater arrive at a campus on the South Platte River in Englewood — the daily flow of about 300,000 people across the south Denver metro. South Platte Renew, jointly owned by the Cities of Englewood and Littleton, is the third-largest water resource recovery facility in Colorado. It cleans that water and returns it to the river, around the clock, mostly without anyone noticing.
Not noticing is, in a sense, the job. But in the spring of 2025, SPR's research arm gave the south metro a reason to pay attention — one you could hold in your hand.
Parked at PARC — SPR's Pilot and Research Center — sat a first-of-its-kind mobile demonstration trailer built by the Colorado School of Mines. Inside: a complete direct potable reuse (DPR) train, taking water the plant had already cleaned and polishing it further with carbon-based advanced treatment (CBAT) and reverse osmosis until it met drinking-water standards.
A “testbed” for innovations in programming and technologies.
That's how the episode notes describe what Dr. Tzahi Cath of the Colorado School of Mines and host Blair Corning built the conversation around: not a one-off stunt, but a rolling laboratory for the treatment trains Colorado will need as the state's water supplies tighten. It even made local television — the notes point listeners to a Denver7 story on the trailer.
From the episode notes for “Pure Potential: Colorado's Path to Sustainable Water” (S1 · E5) — listen on the podcast page.
03
The brewer's bet
Enter Justin Fisher, Innovation Brewer at Breckenridge Brewery. For Project Green 2025, his team brewed a Helles lager — a style with a long tradition and a clean, unforgiving profile — using water from that trailer.
Crafted with 100% purified water from the Colorado School of Mines' Direct Potable Reuse trailer.
Not blended. Not symbolic. The whole batch, brewed on water that had been through Englewood's sewers, SPR's treatment train, and the trailer's advanced purification. Why a Helles, of all styles? That's Justin's story to tell — he walks through the science and the strategy in the episode, along with how sustainability runs through Breckenridge's brewing process.
From the episode notes for “Lager than Life: Brewing with Recycled Water” (S1 · E6) — listen on the podcast page.
04
World Environment Day
The beer launched with intent: timed to World Environment Day, , as part of a larger celebration — a river clean-up with the nonprofit Protect Our Rivers and a sustainability event at Breckenridge Brewery's Farm House in Littleton. Proceeds went back to the water, supporting Protect Our Rivers' ongoing conservation work.
A neat loop, if you trace it: the river feeds the taps, the taps feed the plant, the plant feeds the trailer, the trailer fills the kettle — and the pint helps clean the river.
Launch details from the S1 · E6 episode notes.
05
What a beer proves
The chemistry of potable reuse is largely settled science. The harder problem is the one the podcast names directly:
The challenges, research, and social acceptance surrounding potable reuse.
Social acceptance. People trust what they can taste. A lager brewed on purified recycled water is a sip-sized argument that “recycled” and “pure” can be the same glass of water — an argument no fact sheet makes as well. For a state mapping its path to sustainable water, that may be the most valuable thing PARC sent out the door in 2025.
Framing from the S1 · E5 episode notes.
Coda
Keep pulling the thread
This story sits at the corner of two pages in this prototype: pilot 5 on the PARC map and two episodes of Innovation Flow. That's the design idea worth noticing — on the redesigned site, a story like this is a repeatable content type, not a one-off. Every pin on the pilot map could earn one: same template, same sourcing discipline, same links back to the audio and the map.
Research that nobody can find is research that nobody benefits from. The point of the redesign is to make sure SPR's best stories are one search away.
Hear it told
Two episodes, one pint
The trailer and the lager each get a full conversation on PARC Innovation Flow — both embedded on this site, no app required. Or step back and see all eleven pilots this podcast documents.