Parkville Water District outlines water‑rights portfolio and aging pipeline repairs

Greg Teeter, speaking for Parkville Water District, gave Lake County commissioners a broad briefing on the district’s water supplies, system condition and planned projects during the Jan. 20 work session.

Teeter said Parkville maintains a portfolio of senior surface‑water rights — some dating to the 1860s — and several groundwater sources including a Canterbury mine‑tunnel well that the district drilled in 2012 to stabilize winter supply. The district reports roughly 2,727 service connections and about 30 miles of mains and service lines in its system.

Infrastructure needs: Teeter said much of the distribution network is old — including an 1879 cast‑iron main and multiple galvanized and copper service lines — and that the district has significant losses to address. He described upcoming work to remove and replace five blocks of water main on the upper East Sixth Street corridor, a project he estimated at about $2 million. That project includes bypass and jumper lines to keep supply flowing during construction.

Funding and grants: Parkville has secured a $1 million Mineral Impact grant for the Sixth/Seventh Street replacement and is seeking other state and federal funding. Teeter said the district has spent roughly $50 million on plant upgrades in recent decades and has an annual budget of just under $6 million. The district’s average daily production capacity is over 4,000,000 gallons with typical demand that has not exceeded about 1,200,000 gallons per day in recent years.

Reservoirs, wells and future projects: Teeter described three modern wells near the Arkansas River with combined capacity near 1,000,000 gallons per day and two high‑elevation reservoirs on Mosquito Pass that provide storage. He said the district is considering developing an undeveloped surface water right at Iowa Gulch with a treatment plant in the next decade, and discussed a longstanding plan to transfer agricultural‑use water from Empire Gulch to irrigate about 12 acres at the golf course pending installation of measuring devices and telemetry.

Public‑health testing: Teeter said the district’s PFAS (per‑ and polyfluoroalkyl substances) sampling — five rounds of raw and treated water testing — did not find PFAS in Parkville’s water; he said other systems in the county have detected PFAS and are scrambling to plan treatment.

Service‑line impacts and homeowner costs: Teeter noted the district owns service from the main to the right‑of‑way and homeowners own the lateral beyond that point. Construction is revealing private‑side issues, including multiple houses tied to a single lateral; Teeter said that separation work has affected a small number of properties so far and can be expensive for homeowners.

Ending: Teeter said the district is willing to collaborate with the county on projects to use local water rights, improve irrigation options and coordinate street and utility work. He encouraged commissioners to contact the district for tours and follow‑up and offered to meet individual commissioners for site visits.

Quote: “We have plenty of water to put in the pipes. The hard part is to keep it in pipes,” Teeter said, summarizing the district’s situation.