Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Water Utilities topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Carbondale utility director reports major leak losses, outlines $1.5–$2M smart‑meter rollout and ditch headgate improvements
Summary
Town utility staff told the Environmental Board that a late‑winter freeze‑thaw cycle caused several water leaks that together lost roughly 7 million gallons; staff also said proposals to replace meters with a smart‑meter system are under review (estimated $1.5–$2 million) and a Carbondale ditch headgate design will be started this summer.
At the Carbondale Environmental Board meeting on April 21, Town utility director Scott Wenning reported that a freeze‑thaw event in early February triggered multiple leaks across the town’s water distribution system, costing the town about 7,000,000 gallons of water and prompting a contractor to be hired for a town‑wide leak survey.
Wenning said the town spent about $20,000 to hire a contractor to perform leak detection and that staff completed a meter pilot study and will finalize a selection memo this week. He told the board the full smart‑meter implementation proposals he received range from $1.5 million to $2 million. Wenning said the meters are owned by the utility as capital improvements (not a line item on individual customer bills) and that installation will require access to residences; the town expects to install meters town‑wide over a period that could range from about 1½ to 4 years depending on grant funding.
The meter rollout, Wenning said, is intended to improve the utility’s ability to manage water use and conservation through richer data. He told the board there are roughly 2,707 water services in town that will need to be addressed; he estimated installation labor at about 1½–2 hours per service.
Wenning also briefed the board on drought monitoring and river work. He said snow‑water equivalent in the area had peaked at about 69% of median and was currently around 77% of median, and warned that without meaningful summer precipitation the season could be “really dry.” He announced that the town will begin design work this summer on a Carbondale ditch headgate improvement project and is trying to coordinate stakeholders along the Crystal River to pursue a larger river‑reach project. Wenning noted the Carbondale headgate sits on private property subject to the town’s easement and staff intend to consult the landowner and other ditch stakeholders.
Board members pressed Wenning on whether sewer infrastructure was affected by the freeze‑thaw. He said most sewer mains are deeper and more flexible (PVC and socketed joints) and that, to his knowledge, the town’s sewer infrastructure showed no systemic freeze‑thaw damage. He acknowledged one unrelated sewer blockage at Oak Run that cleared on its own; staff have not determined a definitive cause.
Wenning also reported that the police department has acquired two Chevy Blazer EVs and that an upfitting schedule is in progress.
Next steps: staff will circulate the final meter selection memo, seek grant funding for meter rollout, begin headgate design this summer and pursue stakeholder coordination for a Crystal River reach project.
"We lost about 7,000,000 gallons of water to these leaks," Wenning said, describing the scale of the detection work. "The proposals that we got back look to be between 1.5 and $2,000,000 for full implementation."
