Utilities staff review 2024 operations, projects and finances; major capital work to continue in 2025

Utilities department staff presented a year-in-review at the Water Resources Advisory Board meeting on Jan. 27, outlining 2024 operations, capital work and priorities for 2025.

The presentation, given by Andrew Walker, budget analyst for the utilities department, and moderated by board staff, said the city issued $96,700,000 in water and wastewater bonds in January to fund the main sewer interceptor project and seven other priority projects, and that the department will shift from ARPA-funded emergency bill assistance to developing an in-house customer assistance program in 2025. "In January, the city issued a total of $96,700,000 in water and wastewater bonds," Walker said.

The department summarized 2024 operations across water, wastewater and stormwater. Staff described generally average snowpack and reservoir levels, with a warm, dry spring–summer that increased demand and produced slightly above-average summer water use. Utilities maintenance completed more than 300 after-hours responses, installed system taps and testing stations, repaired or replaced more than 600 meters, and conducted roughly 357,000 manual meter reads. Wastewater crews inspected about 70 miles of pipe and cleaned roughly 146 miles of…