Empire Stay Afloat Final Report

• Project Type: Ag/Muni Grant
• Applicant: Town of Empire
• Project Name: Keeping the Good Ship S.S. Empire Afloat
• Title: Town of Empire Final Report
• Date: 9/18/1998
• County: Gilpin
• Water Conservation - Doc Type: Final Report

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Town of Empire
30 East Park Avenue - POBox 187
Empire Colorado 80438
303-569-2978 local 534-2450 metro

Final Report
September, 18, 1998

Background:

The Town of Empire was incorporated in 1881 and lies at the foot ofBerthoud Pass on
u.s. Highway 40 at an elevation of8,612 feet. The Town's population was 401
according to the 1990 Census and we estimate the current population to be around 450.
The residents primarily engage in small businesses, mining, and tourism-related
activities. Our housing inventory consists of approximately 100 single-family dwellings
and 75 mobile homes or cabins. The vast majority, of the single-family residences, were
constructed between 1880 and 1940 and are poorly insulated and have antiquated
plumbing. Most of the mobile homes are of 1960s and 1970s construction and are poorly
insulated with improperly installed or insufficient skirting. The cabin residences were all
constructed from the mid 1930s through 1950 and most have had no renovation and very
little maintenance performed.

_ The Town's water distribution system was installed piece by piece over a period from the
turn of the Century through the present. There is no record of much of this installation,
particularly the majority of the line that was installed prior to 1970.

Project Description/Implementation:

One of the goals of this water conservation project was installation of37 water meters. A
number of problems were confronted in the installation process, among which was a lack
of knowledge of the location and materials used in the water services and the inability to
secure reliable installers. We hired three local plumbers and each in turn proved unable
to complete the project after numerous delays. We concluded that a reliable local
plumber was not available and hired Mac Vic plumbing, Golden, Colorado to complete
the installations. We were able to successfully conclude this portion of the project in
short order with minimum difficulty.

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We also were unable to make the projected number of commercial installations due to
inaccessibility in many cases, and reluctance on the part of the property owners in other
instances. When we did our mobile home installations, we found that poor skirting
and/or insulation caused freezing in two of the four completed installations and we
abandoned that portion of the project due to lack of appropriate sites. We compensated
for the loss of these commercial.and mobile home installations by adding to the number
of residential installations.