Granada Trustees Move Forward on Water Project

Granada Water Tower

The Granada Trustees, following a public hearing Wednesday, March 20^th, voted to move forward on water system improvements for the community.  A resolution on the project and financing costs will be on the April 10^th agenda during their regular monthly meeting.

David Frisch, consulting engineer for GMS, Inc., said, “This is a great opportunity for the town with minimum costs for the residents,” during the meeting. GMS has been working with the Granada Trustees for a number of years, trying to find the best priced project from available grants.  A cost for new water mains and replacement tanks was estimated about four years ago at $1.7 million while the new estimate is in the neighborhood of $814,000 which will be paid for in several grants and eventually paid back by residents who will see their bills for water use increase by $2 for a basic monthly rate for 6,000 gallons used and a dollar increase for every 1,000 gallons over that.  Granada is still paying for a water improvement loan taken out at 4% interest in 2000 for upgrades.  The new funding is based on an interest rate of 0.5%.

The Trustees spent a considerable amount of time taking those residents who are on fixed incomes into account when determining the rates, but also stated that those clients and the elderly usually do not use as much water as a larger family. Mayor Glenn Otto told the Trustees, that the costs should be increased to pay off the funding, but not so high that people won’t water their yards in the summer.  “We’d like to be able to keep our lawns green and they won’t if the cost of water is too expensive.”  The last time water rates were raised was in 2009.

The funding will pay for new water main projects, one south of Hwy 50 between Amache and Broderick Streets and another north of Hwy 50 between Half and Oak Streets. Other improvements, as outlined in the GMS proposal include replacement of fire hydrants, valves and water service connections in portions of the town.  Also included in the project are improvements to the booster pump station, a well pump installation, pump house and vault improvements, a new 219,000 gallon ground level welded steel storage tank, reroofing the raw water storage tank and painting the exterior of the elevated water storage tank.

Granada qualifies for particular grants based in part on the average low income of the community and lower valuation of the houses in the town compared to the rest of the state. Granada has approximately 230 water use customers.  The last water improvements were in 1980 and 2000.

In other action the Trustees approved the bid from Sandborn Company from Denver for $22,500 for an engineering assessment on the town landfill.

By Russ Baldwin