Del Norte System Improvements Applic

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To understand our request you need to know that in addition to the surface water supply at our water treatment plant we have two wells. The wells feed into town directly through old lines and they and the water transmission line fill into an underground water reservoir storage tank on "Mount Lookout" (within our city limits) which can then be pumped into another storage tank above the main tank. 1991 through 1996 (Nov.1 - Oct.31) showed the town using 740.9, 732.3,879.3, 1051.4,897.9 and 1044.489 acre feet per year, respectively, of water. We feel this is unacceptable. We find it also unacceptable that we can only pump water INTO town through our transmission line; The board feels the potential need exists for water supply FROM town TO the treatment plant as the surface water rights are a junior water right and for several months at a time we mayor may not have water available. This plant was put in at the request of our citizens at an expense of $650,000. They felt the water right for the plant was worth the expense to build the plant. I will follow this summary of our project description with copies of pages 3 through 21 of our water study. These pages describe our community (including a vicinity map), our existing water system, analysis of our water distribution system, water supply improvement alternatives, water distribution system improvements/alternatives and conclusions and recommendations. It includes tables on water usage history, summary of our water rights along with cost estimates for various recommendations. This first phase of our projects (the one we are requesting this grant for) will incorporate the first of several pressure reducing valves and some new main lines to accommodate the needs of our new school facilities. We are planning that the school will be a "player" in the project through a financial contribution. This project must be completed in early spring of 1997. It also includes needed repairs to our existing well pumping facilities. Some of that work has already been completed. This phase will be in steps. We will be addressing for dollar purposes only this first step. You can see in our water study that many PRV's are needed and proposed in town along with other pertinent improvements which coincide with the PRVs. The town is currently under way on other projects referred to in our study, utilizing current fund balances. These balances must provide seed money for grant matching and other financing mechanisms. To ensure prudent spending of these dollars the board is in the process of selecting a firm to put together a master plan for the town. We then intend to go to the voters in 1998 for permission to enter into debt for water supply improvements. We intend to apply for more grants next year to ensure our customers that the town is prudently addressing the needs of the overall community with respect to their water & wastewater utility billings. If we can incorporate into this process the ability to bring in customers outside of our municipality while providing a service to a large area (Pinos Creek drainage) we feel we can then supplement both our water rights as well as cost sharing of capital improvements to our water system. Our second phase includes the installation of water meters. Currently the town encourages new property owners to follow our standard specs on water meters and install them at the time the property is being developed. We have several in place at this time. We require large users to meter at this time.