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Broomfield staff report progress on water, sewer and stormwater after recent rate increases
Summary
City staff and the Flow advisory committee told the City and County Council that increased rates and staffing this year allowed crews to catch up on maintenance, advance capital projects and improve water-quality testing, while stressing ongoing work on long-term supply and funding.
Council heard a status update on utility enterprise funds and related capital work at its Oct. 20 study session, with staff and members of the Flow advisory committee reporting improvements in maintenance, inspections and several capital projects following budget and rate actions this year.
The presentation, led by a utilities presenter identified in the transcript as Mr. Rutt and members of the Flow advisory committee, said the city replaced or began replacing aging meters, advanced waterline and stormwater rehabilitation work, and resumed major capital projects that had been unfunded in recent years. “Water meters obviously are critical in being able to make sure that we are accurately recording the usage,” Mr. Rutt said during the presentation.
Why it matters: Council members pressed staff on how conservation and changing usage patterns affect revenues and the enterprise budget. Staff said the extra resources let crews complete previously deferred maintenance and that ongoing conservation reduces usage — which can lower revenue and must be accounted for in rate planning.
Key facts and findings
- Meter replacement and waterlines: Staff said some meters on the system are more than 20 years old (designed for a 12-year life) and the city has started a meter replacement program that will run more than a decade. Waterline replacement work resumed in 2025 after a pause since 2021; a Westlake waterline project completed at roughly $1,700,000 and the 136th Avenue waterline work is under way.
- Major reservoirs and projects: Broomfield holds a roughly 29.4% share of Chimney Hollow Reservoir; staff reported coordination with Northern Water on naturally occurring uranium studies and an 1,800-acre-foot test to examine system behavior. The Sienna Reservoir pump station and pipeline project is substantially complete and in final punch-list status.
- Operations and maintenance metrics: Staff reported flushing 100% of the distribution system in 2025 (about 483 miles), maintaining 4,478 fire hydrants (100% in 2025 vs. 47% in 2021), and video-inspecting nearly 90% of sewer assets toward a year-end goal of 100% (the program is a two-year cycle covering roughly 326 miles). Valve maintenance was at 60% through September with a projection to reach 100% by year end.
- Backflow and tanks: There are more than 2,700 backflow preventers; staff reported 97.17% compliance (state requirement is at least 90%). Two tanks were cleaned this year and all six tanks were inspected; American Water Works Association guidance recommends cleaning two per year.
- Technology and lab work: Automation reduced ammonia analysis turnaround from about six hours to three hours; jar-testing automation cut staff time from about four hours to roughly 50 minutes for a given procedure.
- PFAS monitoring and regulation: Staff said the utility is complying with current PFAS requirements and that another round of sampling begins in 2027. The Water Quality Control Division recently adopted fee increases referenced in the staff memo.
Council questions and staff responses
Council members repeatedly asked how continued conservation would affect revenue projections. Mr. Rutt and other staff said forecasts incorporate conservation assumptions, but emphasized uncertainty: staff said they are still aggregating weather and usage data, and that detailed conservation impacts will be analyzed after final meter and billing data for the year are processed.
Council members also asked about staffing and benchmarking. Staff presented AECOM benchmarking showing lower-than-median staffing and operating budgets per 100 miles compared with national medians (examples cited in the presentation: about 2.35 staff/100 miles in one metric versus an AWWA median of 5.68). Staff said some of the efficiency comes from modern equipment, contracting for major rehab work, and that aging infrastructure will likely require increased staffing over time.
Concerns and next steps
- Conservation and revenue: Council members asked for clearer projections of future conservation impacts; staff said they will analyze moisture-year data and usage by customer class before offering updated revenue projections.
- HOAs and large irrigation users: Council members requested more outreach and targeted programs for homeowners associations and other large common-area irrigators; staff said Resource Central will launch an HOA-focused program in 2026 that will include technical assistance and potential grant match opportunities for turf replacement.
- Emergency preparedness and supply risk: Staff said an updated emergency response plan and a submitted risk-and-resilience assessment to the EPA evaluate supply vulnerabilities (wildfire impacts to watershed, supplier outages) and that staff are exploring additional interconnect options with neighboring utilities.
Ending note: Staff and Flow members said their next enterprise update is scheduled for January 20 (a study session), and that Flow will continue to participate in budget reviews and public outreach.
(Reporting detail: figures above are taken from the staff presentation as read into the record. Where staff gave percentages or counts, the article reports them verbatim; for items where transcript language was ambiguous the article uses the exact words spoken.)
