Karen Gerrity, Administrator, Town of Nederland. It is not uncommon to see friendly Dead Heads in Nederland or camping in the surrounding area, especially when Dead and Company performs close by. 

The “Dead Heads” I am referring to in this article however are non –looped water mains which have been the subject of some concerns recently. So, I asked the Utilities Staff to bring me up to speed on this topic and here is what I learned. 

Non-looped water main installations date back 55 years to 1964 and there are just over two dozen in Town. The E. 5th Street non-looped main, a recent subject of concern, was installed in 1979 and has a “blow-off” to flush stagnant water, as is found with similar “dead heads” on the system. There was only one additional non-looped main added to the system since 2004 and that was for the new Town Shop in 2017. 

The E. 5th Street existing non-looped water main was extended in 2018 based on feedback from the Nederland Fire Protection District, development concerns, previous precedent and the 2014 Master Infrastructure Plan which helps guide staff decisions. The MIP identified the goal to loop 5th Street water main to Ridge Road and the 700 foot extension is a move towards that goal. Town staff hopes to extend it another 300 feet in 2020. This will provide the best fire protection for the area by giving the fire department better access to a hydrant and better stage for extending to Ridge Road.

The estimate in 2014 to fully connect 5th Street to Ridge Road was $726,000. Since the Town lacks the funds to take on the entire project at once, staff is working towards that goal incrementally. 

Staff follows a monitoring plan and schedule. Together these documents define sampling requirements for the distribution system. Our water system has not had any violations in almost a decade. The most recent violation was in 2009 for “Lack of Monitoring” for failure to follow the State’s Total Coliform Rule. The State requires all drinking water violations to be listed in the annual Consumer Confidence (CCR) Report. Consumers were notified of this violation in the 2010 CCR report published in the June 17, 2010, issue of The Mountain- Ear.   

The Town Utilities team is top-notch and they do an excellent job of protecting the Town’s water quality. 

If you have any Town concerns, please reach out to me by sending an email to kareng@nederlandco.org or calling me at 303.258.3266 ext. 1010. 

(Originally published in the August 8, 2019, print edition of The Mountain-Ear.)