Council awards $4.1 million contract for 2025 waterline replacements; staff details pipe materials, locations and timing

The City and County of Broomfield on March 18 approved a construction agreement with Diamond Contracting Corp for the 2025 waterline replacement program. Council voted 9-0 to award the contract.

Deputy Director of Public Works Jeff Ruger told council the city's distribution system includes metallic and plastic pipe types and that many metallic pipes — cast iron, ductile iron and steel — are reaching the 50- to 75-year range when corrosion and failures become more frequent. He said Broomfield's soils can be corrosive and that failures in large lines cause wide outages and require complex emergency responses.

The 2025 work package includes two primary projects:

- Westlake Drive (approximately 4,900 feet of 12-inch ductile iron) — staff said the line was installed around 1974 and is showing increased corrosion and failure risk; the replacement will include valves, hydrants and reconnection work with water-quality testing before returning a section to service. - 136th Avenue corridor (a 20-inch legacy transmission line) — staff said the corridor has experienced multiple failures and is in a constrained utilities corridor; the preferred technique is a trenchless slip-lining approach using fused PVC (pulling in 16-inch fusible PVC inside the existing host pipe) to reduce extensive open-cut work and to expedite construction in the constrained corridor. A pressure-regulating valve installed more than 50 years ago in the corridor also needs replacement and will be included.

Ruger described the system at scale: about 447 miles of pipe inventory across transmission and distribution mains, roughly 23,000 meters and more than 4,400 hydrants, and noted the system maintains multiple storage tanks and pressure-regulating valves for zone control. He said recent emergency response work (a 20-inch main failure on Industrial Lane handled in cooperation with Xcel/Electric crews) underscores the value of proactive replacement.

Two qualified bidders returned bids; Diamond Contracting Corp was the low bidder and staff recommended award. Ruger said the city adjusted scope to add more linear feet where favorable pricing allowed. Construction is expected to begin late spring or early summer, with public notification (postcards, variable message boards) and traffic control plans to be coordinated with the city's traffic engineer.

Votes and contract details

- Resolution 2025-05: Approving the construction agreement with Diamond Contracting Corp for the 2025 waterline replacement project. Moved: Council member Henkel. Second: Council member Cohen. Outcome: approved, 9-0.

Why it matters

The city is moving from reactive emergency repairs to planned replacement of core metallic mains to improve reliability, reduce emergency outages and limit prolonged service disruptions. The adopted method for the constrained 20-inch corridor limits digging and seeks to speed project completion while maintaining water-quality testing and regulatory requirements.

Provenance

- topicintro: block_id="blk_7928" tc_start="01:59:00" tc_end="01:59:20" evidence_excerpt:"We're coming up to our final item under action items this evening. It's council's consideration of a resolution related to the 2025 water line replacement construction contract award. Council has a copy of the agenda memorandum..." (transcript ~7928.04) - topfinish: block_id="blk_9831" tc_start="02:43:51" tc_end="02:44:36" evidence_excerpt: "All council members have entered their votes, and the results will be displayed on the screen. That passes unanimously 9 to 0." (transcript ~9831.98)

Speakers

- Jeff Ruger, Deputy Director of Public Works (government) - Council member Henkel (government) - Council member Cohen (government)

Authorities

- resolution: "Resolution 2025-05" referenced_by:["body","provenance"]

Proper_names

[ {"name":"Diamond Contracting Corp","type":"business"},{"name":"Xcel Energy","type":"business"} ]

Topics

[ {"name":"utilities","justification":"Article covers water distribution infrastructure projects, methods and reliability measures","scoring":{"topic_relevance":0.99,"depth_score":0.85,"opinionatedness":0.05,"controversy":0.10,"civic_salience":0.90,"impactfulness":0.85,"geo_relevance":1.00}} ]