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• Board Meeting Date: 11/18/2007
• Description: CF Section - Review of the Rural Water Supply Planning Study
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Memo

Stratus Consulting Executive Summary
Table 5.1. Types of community water systems in Colorado

Category No. of
systems % of
total
Categm•y No. of % of
systems total
Total community systems 841 Private community systems 375
Private community systems 375 45% Private nonprofit community systems 174 4G%
Community systems other than 466 55% Private for profit community systems 201 54%
private systemsa
a. Includes federal, state, and loc al government sys tems; Native American owned systems; and mixed-
ownership systems.
Projected growth rate of private nonprofit water systems
To estimate the growth rate of PNPWSs in Colorado, we used information from phone
discussions with county planners on the number of new applications for developments that
include PNPWSs and compared it to the existing number of PNPWSs in that county. Once we
approximated the PNPWS growth rate, we detei7nined whether or not that growth rate was faster
than the projected population growth rate. In most instances, few developments with PNPWSs
were being processed or anticipated. However, a few counties such as Garfield, Routt, and Rio
Grande had existing or anticipated applications from developments with PNPWSs as well as land
use policies that allowed for PNPWS growth. We marked these counties as likely to have
PNPWS growth rates greater than the existing population growth rate projection.
For the state as a whole, we expect that the growth rate of PNPWS systems will approximately
track with the rate of population growth, which is projected to range from 1.3% to 2% for
Colorado from 2005-2010 to 2030-2035 (Colorado DOLA, 2006). Counties where PNPWS
growth is actively discouraged appear to outnumber the counties that allow PNPWS growth.
However, PNPWSs will continue to proliferate in some counties. Projecting the number of
PNPWS systems using population growth rate projections by county, we roughly estimate that
the number of community PNPWSs will grow from the current 174 to 187 by 2010 and 238 by
2020.
Private nonprofit water system projected funding need
The 2007 project eligibility list for CDPHE's Drinking Water Grant Program for PNPWSs totals
$32.5 million. These cost estimates were gathered in June 2006. To supplement this list, we
identified short-term funding need (starting in the next 0 to 5 years) in 10 of the 13 community
PNPWSs we interviewed. Need from these systems totaled $7.3 million. After accounting for
some overlap between the two lists and adjusting estimates to 2007 dollars, we identified total
short-term funding need of approximately $40 million.
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