If Orchard City should ever agree to be part of a comprehensive domestic water supply system in the area north and west of Cedaredge, the town would want some conditions attached to its participation.

That was the message of the Orchard City trustee water committee to directors of the Grand Mesa Water  Conservancy District (GMWCD) last month at a meeting to discuss domestic water systems in the rural area.

If the town were ever to become the treated water supplier for a single water system in the area, trustees would want some conditions to apply, including the following:

• • Any new raw water supplies coming into the town’s treatment plant to serve new taps would have to be of high quality at least equal to current feedstocks piped from high elevation reservoirs, and preferably the same quality as the town’s current spring water supplies.
• • New raw water supply would have to be of sufficient quantity to serve the area’s needs.
• • Any town participation would have to be “financially beneficial” to the town.
• • Any project would have to bear costs of needed expansion to the Orchard City treatment plant, and of needed up-sizing of the planned west side main supply line project.

Domestic water service and infrastructure problems in rural areas west and north of Cedaredge have prompted the Grand Mesa Water Conservancy District (GMWCD) to search for solutions.

The developing area is served by a collection of different private pipeline companies using infrastructure dating from the 1960s. Some of the systems are served by wells, and infrastructure is in need of replacement at high cost.

Directors of the GMWCD have agreed to look into the domestic water supply and distribution situation in the area at the request of the county commissioners. District #2 commissioner Wayne Wolf, in whose district the area lies, explained, “There is no elaborate plan at this time. We do recognize there is a need. There are subdivisions, particularly northwest of Cedaredge that do have limitations on their domestic water. It would be good if something could be worked out.”

Three members of the GMWCD board of directors (Austin Keiser, Ward Armstrong, and Jim Durr) met with the Orchard City trustee water committee on June 3 to see if the town board is interested in being part of any future solution. Representing the town at the meeting were Mayor Don Suppes, trustee Gale Doudy, water department supervisor Keith Peterson, and engineer Larry Reschke.  Town trustee Jimmie Boyd is a water committee member and also a member of the GMWCD board of directors.

Keiser explained to the town trustees that the district had been asked to look at the domestic water situation in the area and see if it could suggest any solutions. Two private pipeline companies north of Cedaredge ­— Ginter Grove in the Surface Creek drainage and currently supplied by Cedaredge, and Coalby Canyon in the Ward Creek Drainage — are facing various problems delivering water to their customers. Solutions to those problems will be costly.

The rural area being looked at by the district lies generally in the Ward Creek drainage. Orchard City’s water treatment plant is in the same drainage, and the town’s west side main distribution line runs through the area. If a domestic water system of some kind under the oversight or management of the GMWCD or another entity were to be developed there, the town would be an obvious possibility for supplying treated water to it.

Discussions in the past on connecting the Coalby Domestic system to Orchard City’s treatment plant have never resulted in an agreement. Coalby operates its own troubled treatment plant while Ginter Grove buys bulk treated water from the Town of Cedaredge.

Keiser told the trustees, “We are on a fact-finding effort to share ideas and see if there is any interest by the town.”

District board member Ward Armstrong added, “We would like to know if there is any interest on the town’s part in being a wholesale water supplier to the area.”

Keiser explained further that at this early stage one of the possibilities being looked at is that of a wholesale domestic water district or distribution organization of some kind that would operate in the area purchasing its bulk treated water from the Town of Orchard City.”

Armstrong said the idea is “now or never” because small pipeline companies in the area are in need of replacing 50-year-old infrastructure at costs which they probably can’t afford.
“The best approach,” Armstrong said, “would probably be to establish some grid loops for main water lines in the area. It would be best, if possible, to address the issues in a system wide manner.

“Our question to the Town of Orchard City is are you interested in being a wholesale treated water supplier to such a rural system? It’s now or never. The small pipeline companies in the area were established in the 1960s and their infrastructure need to be replaced.

The Orchard City trustees said they are worried about issues of financial benefit to the town, affects on the town’s domestic water quality, and the costs of expanding its own infrastructure to serve future needs of the area.

The town is currently the major treated water supplier to the area through its deliveries of treated water to private pipeline companies and individual “outside-of-town” domestic water taps.

Town trustee Gale Doudy said that any project proposal would have to supply the town with adequate domestic supply of sufficient quality that would not degrade the town’s current raw water supply.

“We will come to the town with a proposal if there is a willingness to participate,” Armstrong said.

The area being looked at is Coalby Canyon which has its own troubled treatment plant and distribution system, and which serves about 130 domestic taps.

“It does seem like the Grand Mesa Water Conservancy District is the logical entity to try and work on this issue,” Wolf said. “We are very pleased they have taken up the idea to coordinate efforts and see what might be done to help people in that area have better domestic water supply and service, and also fire protection.

“We appreciate the district’s willingness to see what it can do to help, and the county is willing to support grant requests from the Department of Local Affairs and USDA Rural Development for a study,’ Wolf added.”