NEDERLAND — During the last month and a half, the Town of Nederland’s Utilities Department met with the Board of Trustees (BOT) to provide a status update on the Town’s current water and sewer systems and infrastructure. They also presented draft 10-year Capital Improvement Plans (CIPs), and a 10-year water and sewer rate projection, indicating an upcoming increase which Trustees are set to vote on next week. 

Utilities Department Manager Andrew Bliss and Andrew Sparn, Vice President of JVA (the Town’s hired engineering consultants) spoke to the BOT at all three meetings, starting with a Water and Wastewater System Overview on August 4. 

Water and wastewater overview

According to the report prepared by Bliss, the purpose of the overview was to refresh the Board on the current status of Nederland’s water and wastewater systems and infrastructure, as well as on the “organization and operations of the Utilities Department, major projects over the past 10 years, and key challenges and opportunities.” 

Bliss listed the area water sources, highlighting the Middle Boulder Creek Watershed as the main drinking water source, Barker Reservoir as the 39.6 acre feet of water storage owned by the City of Boulder, and the water intake and settling ponds that were built in 1979 out on Eldora Road, near the Town’s Water Plant.

The Town is still paying its 20-year loan on the 2010 improvements to the water plant, which operates as a membrane filtration system. Additionally, the plant is located on US Forest Service land, necessitating a lease agreement that the Town pays annually.

Also listed by Bliss were the Town’s four pump stations, the majority of which were built post-2000 except one in the Sunnyside neighborhood that was built over 40 years ago. The installation of Nederland’s four Treated Water Storage Tanks also dates back 40 years or more, with two being originally installed in 1979, and one as far back as 1964. 

“The water use over the last 10 years is relatively flat, if maybe very slightly declining,” Bliss said, indicating a graph which highlighted the Water Plant’s production from 2016 to 2026. “This is a common trend in communities that are built out and not growing a lot and, from the little growth that they do experience, they still see flat or declining water use because people are installing more water efficient fixtures over time.”

Bliss noted a mark on the graph in 2025, when the water flow spiked to full capacity for two straight days due to the Lakeview Fire that destroyed the Caribou Village Shopping Center. 

Bliss also showcased a map of Nederland’s water distribution system, allowing Trustees to follow the complex 20-mile web of over 150 valves, 180 hydrants, and six Pressure Reducing Valves all linked by different size, type, and capacity pipes to serve 892 water accounts. 

A similar map of the Town’s Sewer Collection System was also provided and included details of the 10 miles of VCP (vitrified clay pipe), CIPP (cured-in-place piping), and PVC (polyvinyl chloride) pipe that lead to the Wastewater Treatment Facility, which was built in 2013 near the Barker Reservoir. 

“When the Town built that, the City of Boulder funded sand filters for tertiary treatment above and beyond what the state requires to reduce phosphorus and protect the City’s drinking water,” Bliss said, supplying some additional history. “They also fund the operating expenses of those filters and any treatment and testing related to phosphorus removal. That agreement was just renewed a year or two ago.”   

After a quick review of the Utilities Department’s operations and equipment, Bliss listed the major projects that have been completed over the last 10 years, from the construction of the Big Springs Pump Station in 2016 to the Master Infrastructure Plan created in 2021, and the 2024 updates to the department’s Capital Improvement Plan (CIP).

10-year CIP draft

The look back at the Town’s previous accomplishments provided the perfect segue into Bliss’s second presentation: a review of the latest draft of the aforementioned 10-Year Water and Wastewater CIP.

On August 18, Bliss and Sparn met again with the BOT with the specific purpose of drawing feedback from Trustees on the draft CIP in order to finalize it so it can be used to project Nederland’s water and sewer rates for the next 10 years.

“The draft 10-Year CIP identifies anticipated capital needs for the Town’s water and wastewater systems and provides a framework for prioritizing and scheduling those investments,” Bliss’s report details. “The CIP is also an important factor in determining the revenues needed to support the utilities and, consequently, future water and sewer rates.” 

Joining Bliss and Sparn was Julie Koehler, a consultant on municipal public works with 23 years’ experience in the Water industry. Koehler provided additional insight on the importance of in-house asset management, which led the BOT through examples of how the Utilities Department staff have successfully managed and maintained the Town’s critical infrastructure on their own.

However, the draft CIP proposes that the many large and expensive projects that are crucial for maintaining Nederland’s aging water and wastewater systems and facilities cannot be completed by staff alone, and that outside planners, designers, and contractors will be required. 

“This is very expensive infrastructure,” Bliss said. “We really need to start talking about how we can address the age of our infrastructure so we don’t kick the can too far and then have emergencies or some huge expense.” 

According to the projected budgets for all water-based capital improvement projects to be initiated over the course of 10 years, 2026 has the highest total of $8,247,000, with $1.1 million of that being attributed to improvements for the Water Treatment Plant, including $500,000 for the design and engineering of Raw Water Storage.

Over $7 million of that $8.2 million 2026 total is attributed to improvements for the Water Distribution System, with the planning and construction for the Fire Flow and Fire Hydrant Spacing Improvements Project totalling nearly $6.5 million. 

Koehler pointed the Board to a pie graph showcasing how Nederland’s Water Distribution System accounts for 47% of the total value of all of Town’s “Utility Areas.”

Trustee Andrew Joslin added that the Fire Flow and Fire Hydrant Spacing Improvements Project—which involves converting four-inch water lines to six- and eight-inch lines—not only addresses replacing some of the Town’s aging infrastructure, but also tackles compliance with the recently adopted fire codes by providing a fire flow of 1,000 gallons per minute. 

This same project is expected to cost the Town another $7.3 million in 2031, just like the Raw Water Storage expansion project will have to be revisited in 2036, which is hypothesized to cost another $800,000. 

As for the projected budgets for all wastewater-based projects for the next 10 years, 2026 again shows the highest amount, with the majority of its $2.1 million budget being attributed to the planning and construction of the Sanitary Sewer CIPP Project—another recurring project that may cost the Town another $2.4 million in 2033. 

The BOT had few questions for Bliss, Sparn, and Koehler, as it was clear from the presentation that the high cost of these necessary projects was a major concern, and that there was a focus on funding avenues for these projects, including grants.

Draft financial plans

On September 1, the Board heard from Bliss again, as well as from Andrew Rheem with Raftelis Financial Consultants, regarding the draft 10-Year Water and Wastewater Financial Plans and Options. The BOT was tasked with providing feedback on the proposed plans, on the potential for sourcing outside funding, and on the projected water and sewer rate increases for the next 10 years.

Using the previously approved CIP, Raftelis projects a 9% Water Rate Revenue increase to the Water CIP’s Debt and Cash balance for the next three years, when it will then increase to 12% until 2032, and down to 3% through 2033 and 2034. A typical residential monthly water bill—based on a 3/4-inch meter using 3,000 gallons—will see an increase of four to five dollars every year until 2030, where there will be an increase of seven to nine dollars until 2032. 

The projected Sewer Rate Revenue from 2026 to 2034 shows a 1% increase from now until 2029—landing at 5%—and then dropping back to 3% and remaining there until 2034. This equates to a steady rise of three to five dollars on the typical residential monthly sewer bill every year. 

“We’ve inherited a sticky problem, which is that this decision that we’re contemplating has been pushed down multiple years and we, unfortunately, are the ones that are burdened to deal with it,” Nederland Mayor Nichole Sterling said. 

“People don’t realize that we keep them alive, literally, because we’re able to provide water, and that comes at a cost. If we choose to not move forward with these rate increases all we’re doing is pushing the problem down to the next group of folks, and we’re not solving anything.”

“Just a historical note,” Trustee Topher Donahue interjected, as he had served on the Board before, nearly a decade ago, “this conversation sounds exactly the same as conversations we had in 2014 —we changed the rates then, it’s why we’re paying the rates we are now. It’s amazing to me. This is not a new story; it’s not the first time we’ve dealt with this.”

This presentation marked the final discussion on the matter of water and sewer user rate increases before the BOT makes a decision and takes a formal vote on Tuesday, September 15. If Trustees vote to approve the Town’s proposed rate increases, those figures will be incorporated into the Town’s 2027 budget process.