BOARD00385

• Board Meeting Date: 7/28/2003
• Description: CF Section - New Loans - Town of New Castle- Clolorado River Raw Water Transmission
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Memo

~

.

I

.

.

Town of New Castle"'" Colorado River Diversion
July 28-29. 2003

Agenda Jtem 21f

Alternative No.2, East Elk Creek Mitigation: Alternatives to mitigate water quality problems from
the fire-damaged watershed were eliminated due to costs. Water rights senior to the Ware and
Hines are currently not available for purchase in the Elk Creek drainage. A change in the point of
diversion is cost prohibitive and may not completely eliminate the risk of water rights curtailment.

Alternative No.3, Develop New Well Field: Research has been conducted to investigate the
location for a well field with the primary goal producing an adequate water supply in both quantity and
quality. Preliminary findings indicate that wells in the area have poor water quality and production rates
lower than required to meet the demands of an alternate water supply.

Alternative No.4, Colorado River Diversion: Developing an alternate source of water supply from
the Colorado River was selected since it is a both physically and economically reasonable approach.

Selected Alternative 4, Colorado River Diversion - The selected alternative is to construct a
diversion structure and pump station on the Colorado River, for treatment at the Town's existing water
plant A head gate on the Colorado River would gravity flow water to a pump station on the south side
of 1-70. From there water would be pumped to a sedimentation pond north of 1-70. A second pump
station would lift the water to the treatment plant, an elevation increase of about 250 vertical feet. A
new 12" PVC waterline, 8750 feet in length, would be constructed to the treatment plant. Thepipeline
alignment would initially be along Elk Creek, to the Town's Midland Ave. street right-of-way, and then
along County Rd. 245 up to the treatment plant. The system would pump 1800 gpm, and each pump
station would have two pumps plus a back-up pump. Construction of an alternate water supply facility
from the Colorado River would provide the town with a reliable water source during times when
diversion from East Elk Creek is prohibited by either water rights administration or poor water quality.
The Total Project cost, based on updated engineer's opinion of cost, is estimated to be:

1.
2.

Construction
Engineering Fees

$ 936,900
70.000
$ 1,006,900

TOTAL

Schedule - The Town of New Castle is expecting to complete the final design by summer 2003.
Construction is expected to begin in late summer/early fall 2003 and to be completed by November
2003. All necessary permits and notifications are in process with the U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers, CDPHE, COOT, Garfield County and Town of New Castle representatives.

Financial Analvsis

The total estimated cost of the project is $1,006,900. The Town qualifies for the Municipal High
Income interest rate. Staff is recommending a loan for a maximum amount of $700,000
(approximately 70% of estimated project cost) for 30 years at an interest rate of 4.5% per annum.
The Town has sufficient Utility Fund reserves in place to cover their $91,900 share of the project.
The current water rates will be raised approximately $4.00 per month to repay the CWCS loan.
Funding sources for the project are shown in Table 1:

Table 1: Project Funding Sources

Fundino Source
CWCS Loan
State SEP Grant
Colorado River WCD Grant
Town of New Castle - Utilitv Fund
Total

Amount
$700,000
$200,000
$ 15,000
$ 91,900
1,006,900

Page 3 of6