Public Works Utilities Staff welcomed new hire Jayram Rajesh to the team on November 30. He has taken over the Water Meter Project and is already getting us caught up on meter equipment repairs. This is very important so we can accurately monitor unaccounted water use and provide our customers with accurate utility bills. We are excited to have Jayram join the team.

Nederland partnered with Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) to begin wastewater surveillance for SARSCoV 2. CDPHE started a statewide wastewater surveillance system to provide an early warning system for the state and local health departments responding to future disease outbreaks. Currently, surveillance is being conducted for SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19). Wastewater surveillance allows to identify the presence of a virus in a community before results from clinical testing have been received.

This method enables us to estimate the prevalence of disease within a community because it can capture data on individuals who are asymptomatic or who may not seek testing. This can give local health departments the opportunity to respond to viral hotspots quickly and help control the spread of disease in our communities. CDPHE has funding for this project and will provide all of the sampling supplies as well as a courier to transport the wastewater samples to Denver for analysis.

Emmett Pelletier

Streets Supervisor

The month of December was business as usual, for the most part, for the streets department. High winds caused several fallen trees, specifically on Lower Alpine Drive and S Caribou Street. These were processed on site, and taken back to the streets shop by means of a dump truck and loader. The department’s brush chipper was revamped at this time after 6 years of down time, and used to chip the resulting slash.

The early January snow made for the department’s first major snow plowing event. Despite having a new crew with little to no snow plowing experience, the snow was dealt with in a timely fashion.

Nicki Dunn

Parks Lead

The Nederland Parks Division was called out to assist with a campsite cleanup on West Magnolia. Staff was pleased to be good stewards of our land and to help the NPD. The late snowfall gave Parks an opportunity to take on some late season clean-ups not only in the West Mag area but in town as well.

Parks attended a Webinar on Colorado Laws for Persons with Disabilities. Staff is continuously looking to improve Town’s ADA compliance.