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Lookout Mountain Water District Agenda Item 7a November 18-19, 2015 Board Meeting(Updated November 20, 2015) Page 2 of 6 Background The District is located within Clear Creek and Jefferson Counties and provides water service to 1,600 residents in the mountain communities of unincorporated areas near Evergreen and Golden. The District owns and operates two storage reservoirs on Beaver Brook, a tributary to Clear Creek: the Upper Beaver Brook Reservoir also identified as the John Roscoe Reservoir or Beaver Brook Reservoir 3A in State records, and the Lower Beaver Brook Reservoir, known as Beaver Brook Reservoir 3 in State records. The main supply of water comes from the Upper Beaver Brook Reservoir, constructed in 1924, which is the District's largest reservoir with a current capacity of approximately 257.2 acre-feet. The capacity of the Lower Beaver Brook Reservoir is approximately 30.8 acre-feet. The District also owns Lookout Mountain Reservoir (capacity of approximately 101.1 acre-feet), which was formerly the pre- supply reservoir for the City of Golden, but presently, as it is at the end of the District's system, is used solely for augmentation. The District rehabilitated the Upper Beaver Brook Dam and purchased additional water rights for augmentation in the early 1990s; after several multi-year droughts it became apparent that the water rights were still not sufficient to serve the existing customer base. The District made good progress in reducing water losses throughout their treated water delivery infrastructure, and has moved on to a raw water solution to their deficits. For over ten years the District's Board of Directors researched alternatives to reduce the risk of multi-year drought impacts. With this project, the District seeks to provide for the continued delivery of drinking water to current tap holders, with an increased reliability for future demand. Loan Feasibility Study Chad M. Masching, P.E. of GEI Consultants, Inc. prepared the Loan Feasibility Study, titled "Feasibility of Upper Beaver Brook Dam Spillway Improvement Project" dated September 2015. The study includes an analysis of alternatives and a construction cost estimate. The feasibility study was prepared in accordance with the CWCB guidelines. Borrower - Lookout Mountain Water District The District was established in 1988, assuming responsibility for a service area, three reservoirs, a distribution system, and water rights previously operated by the City of Golden. Golden's history of providing raw water within the District's current service area dates back to the early 1900s when the City acquired water rights to the headwaters of Beaver Brook and constructed the current District's three reservoirs. In order to obtain right of way for a water line from Lower Beaver Brook Reservoir to their reservoir on Lookout Mountain, the City offered to sell raw water to the ranchers, farmers, and homeowners who lived along the proposed route. Over the years, development along the water line route brought about increasing changes from ranching to residences, and continuing to provide untreated water to residences was already unacceptable to County and State health departments. Enactment of the Federal Safe Drinking Water Act in late 1974 would have required Golden to construct a new water treatment plant for the raw water being supplied to Lookout Mountain residents. Instead, the City of Golden developed alternate sources of water for the City, and sought a solution to release their obligations in the current District service area. An election was held in 1984 and the new Lookout Mountain Water District was approved by the voters. In 1988, the District's electors authorized the issuance of general obligation bonds for construction and acquisition of the water system. The District constructed a water treatment plant, a new storage facility at El Rancho, replacement of thousands of feet of leaky mainline pipe, and upgrades to the dam and spillway at the Upper Beaver Brook reservoir. Most of this work was completed in the early 1990's. By 1989, homes with tap connections within the District were receiving safe and potable water treated by the new facility.