Residents complain about Farmers Ditch maintenance; utilities director offers follow‑up

Two Boulder residents used the Utilities Advisory Board’s public‑comment period on June 3 to press for more notice and community engagement after maintenance on Farmers Ditch damaged yards and moved sediment, and to raise broader concerns about water use and development.

Eric Gertler, who identified his address as 237 Pearl Street, said crews scraped and dug a large portion of the ditch through his backyard in April. He reported he had been told the work was the start of “a 30 year, $3,500,000 project to double the capacity of the farmer's ditch,” and said residents received no advance notice. “They came in and basically dug up a large portion of the ditch and piled, made a huge mess,” Gertler said.

Lynn Siegel, a second commenter, said she and others have felt a lack of dialogue with the city on water decisions and raised broader complaints about development, density and what she characterized as subsidies for demolitions and big‑home construction. Siegel said those trends increase water demand and add pressure to the city’s water supplies.

Joe Tadayuchi, the city’s director of utilities, responded during the meeting. He said the irrigation ditch companies operate as separate legal entities, but the City of Boulder Utilities is a majority shareholder in Farmers Ditch and the city has staff on the ditch board, including Emily McMurtry in utilities water and resources. Tadayuchi said the city does coordinate with ditch companies on maintenance, and that often the work is maintenance to restore — not expand — historical capacity lost to sedimentation and tree encroachment.

“The capacity is attributable to water rights in the state,” Tadayuchi said. “I believe [Farmers Ditch water rights] are about 55 cubic feet per second. Over time, as the ditch fills up with sediment and is encroached on by trees and roots, they lose the capacity. So it's not really a project to expand the capacity… it's really restoring the capacity that's been there.” He offered to follow up directly with Gertler within a day or two and said staff can share a 2019 memo the city prepared explaining how irrigation ditches and maintenance typically work.

The director also said dam‑safety and other engineering standards have shifted in recent years, prompting monitoring or reevaluation on some high‑hazard facilities rather than immediate capital reconstruction.

Ending: Tadayuchi said staff will follow up with Gertler and the community to provide documents and discuss next steps; he invited questions and additional public comment and noted staff’s intent to improve advance notice and communication when ditch maintenance occurs.