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<br />I <br /> <br />I <br /> <br />Keenesburg. We think this is a project which:is well ~orth being <br />approved by this board. . ' <br /> <br />There is a gentleman here from Keenesburg. <br /> <br />MR. DENTON: Mr. Chairman, 'my name is Hugh Denton. I' am the mayo'r of <br />Keenesburg. I have only been there approximate~y twelve years and <br />this problem we had twelve years ago. The town was established approxi- <br />mately at the turn of the century in 1900. And today's populat~on,: <br />which we have had to control the last three years very much - it has a <br />population of around 520 peop~e now. <br /> <br />The water sy~tem that we have today was started in 1930. And it was <br />never updated really until the war years of the early forties. The <br />metropolitan plan is affecting us in that we're in the southeast corner <br />o~ the county of Weld, and they've earmarked us with a population of <br />approximately 10,000 people by the year 2000. This scares us to death <br />when it comes 'to providing water f9r that many people. <br /> <br />We have approximately 220 water taps right now. We have no empty homes. <br />There are no homes for sale. There are none for rent. In the last <br />three years, the o~ly people we have been able to let build homes are <br />the people that live and work there. <br /> <br />Our surface water.is impossible to drink. It's high in alkali and <br />because of it being a farm. area, our nitrates have com~ up real high in <br />the shallow water. It's so hard even cattle will not drink it. As <br />Mr. Sparks 'stated, our well water is.softwater where we get it; but <br />it's high in f10ride. You don't have to use f10ride toothpaste in <br />Keenesburg. And we have an abundant amount of dissolved. solids in it. <br /> <br />In ou~ storage facilities, we have approximately a twenty-four hour <br />storage. And under the fire code, you are supposed to have a mini~ of <br />seventy-two hours. ,So we can't have any fire of any major sort in our <br />community. We have some indu~try coming in. We had a ,fire not too <br />long ago. We had to let a whole group of chickens burn because we <br />didn't have the water to put it out with. <br /> <br />A year and a half ago, we had four wells. They will produce approxi- <br />mately fifty gallons. a minute. We had to abandon one in 1974 that was <br />drilled in 1929. The coal and gas and everything took the well. It <br />completely went out on us. So we had to abandon it. From'that point <br />on, we have had problems ever since. In the peak of our use in July <br />and August and September, we have to have a minimum of two hundred" <br />gallons a minute on a twenty-four hour basis to take care of our daily <br />needs for our local population. ' <br /> <br />Our volunteer fire department, which is a very good one, is serving <br />~pproximately ?OO homes in the town and rural a~ea; Like I say, if we <br />had a major fire, we couldn't touch it, in any of these homes. Under <br />this pew urban plan that Denver has to decentralize this population, we <br />cannot hope to open up any construction until we get our water problem <br />solved. <br /> <br />-27- <br />