At its July 25 meeting, the Pagosa Area Water and Sanitation District (PAWSD) Board of Directors discussed issues and high costs relating to outlying areas of the district’s water system.
PAWSD District Engineer/Manager Justin Ramsey opened the discussion, explaining that he wanted to discuss the Elk Park subdivision, which is located east of Aspen Springs.
He stated that the subdivision potentially has between 40 and 50 lots with a “5 or 10 percent occupancy rate.”
Ramsey indicated that PAWSD has a 12-inch line that goes to a tank for the subdivision.
However, to maintain the required levels of chlorine in the water, Ramsey explained that the district is dumping about 2.5 million gallons of water “on the ground” each month.
“We’re not even collecting enough from them to pay for our losses of the water we’re wasting,” he said. “It’s a subdivision that we never should have taken on. It’s cost us a fortune.”
He added that there are some homes being built in the area for which PAWSD will have to build new tanks to maintain regulatorily required pressure.
“We’re going to spend several million dollars out there in a subdivision that we’re already losing money in, and what’s really sad — and I’m not much of a bleeding heart — but when you really think about it, we have single-wide trailers here in Vista that are supplementing these multimillion-dollar homes out there and their water system,” Ramsey said. “We need to come up with a plan. And, they seem to be the worst of it, but even Eagle Peak, Mill Creek, Log Park, all these are the subdivisions that we have so far out that are so expensive for us to serve. When we talk about fair and equitable … I think we need to do something with that.”
In an interview, Ramsey explained that chlorine in the water dissipates over time and that, if not enough water is used, water that has sat for a significant amount of time must be dumped and replaced to ensure that the water contains enough chlorine to meet the requirements of the federal Safe Drinking Water Act.
He stated that the act also requires that water be maintained at a certain pressure to ensure that, if a pipe breaks, water from inside the pipe will spray out and water from outside will not filter into the pipe, thus contaminating the water.
PAWSD meets the requirements of the Safe Drinking Water Act in all areas it serves, Ramsey added.
At the meeting, Ramsey referenced two possible approaches to the issues of outlying areas, including making these areas their own districts within PAWSD, which would be subject to different fees, or expelling them from the district.
However, Ramsey commented that the latter option would be “fight” and likely undesirable, but stated that he feels the district needs to create a plan to be more “fair” in servicing these outlying areas.
PAWSD Programs Manager Renee Lewis commented that PAWSD could make Elk Park a “bulk customer,” which would involve the subdivision buying water from PAWSD but being responsible for distributing it to homes in the area and maintaining the water infrastructure within the subdivision.
She added that PAWSD Operations Manager Andy Conner believes that the water PAWSD delivers to the subdivision would meet regulatory standards, while the pressure issues would become a problem for the subdivision.
PAWSD board member Glenn Walsh asked if the board would like to form a subcommittee to investigate these issues.
The group then discussed potential approaches to addressing these areas and the reasons for PAWSD serving them, with PAWSD board member Gene Tautges commenting that these areas were included during a period of “damn the details, just growth, growth, growth.”
Ramsey explained that a potential solution to some of the issues at Elk Park would be to locate a fill station in Aspen Springs, which would likely bring enough water by Elk Park to prevent flushing.
He stated that Archuleta County has indicated that it has a location for a fill station but that the Aspen Springs Metro District previously opposed this idea.
Ramsey and Lewis noted that this would not solve the pressure problems in the area, which would require more expensive solutions involving a new tank or a booster station.
The board discussed the problem further, with PAWSD board chairman Jim Smith agreeing with Ramsey that action on the issue needs to be taken and questioning why Aspen Springs would not want a fill station.
Ramsey explained that the metro district believes that the fill station would negatively impact the amount of people buying water from the district’s well.
He also pointed out the large amount of infrastructure costs PAWSD has incurred in these outlying subdivisions.
Walsh expressed support for looking at the issue, commenting that it would be important for equity and to be “fair” to all district customers.
He stated that he would like to form a subcommittee to look at the issue further.
Ramsey stated that PAWSD’s attorney indicated that the district could refuse to serve these areas, although he commented that this would be highly likely to result in litigation.
Walsh commented that the district would likely not do this, but would aim at “something that’s fair.”
Tautges stated that the problem in Elk Park is potability, not volume of water available, which Ramsey confirmed.
The discussion concluded with the board agreeing to form a subcommittee to investigate possible options and negotiating positions.
Ramsey added that the first step would be to investigate costs in the area and develop options for how to proceed.
He stated that he likes the idea of Elk Park being a bulk customer, but that the subdivision would likely not agree to this since it would necessitate that they maintain their own infrastructure and chlorine levels.
“The reason we don’t want to do it is because it’s an expensive headache,” Ramsey said. “They know it’s an expensive headache. They’re not going to want to say, ‘Yeah, we’ll take on that expensive headache.’”
josh@pagosasun.com
