Project Overview

Water utilities are an expensive and capital-intensive operation. Like many other communities, Longmont needs to replace aging water infrastructure to maintain system reliability and quality.

Longmont’s water is clean primarily because it comes from a very pristine source within Rocky Mountain National Park. That clean water is then stored in Ralph Price Reservoir, ready for the community’s use throughout the year. After the water leaves Ralph Price Reservoir, it is delivered to Longmont’s two treatment facilities: Nelson Flanders Water Treatment Plant, which is the primary treatment plant for the city, as well as the Wade Gaddis Water Treatment Plant, which is used seasonally to meet peak capacity and as a backup system in case of emergencies. Inside the water treatment plants, the water is filtered and disinfected to ensure it’s safe for you and your family to drink.

The City’s Wade Gaddis Water Treatment Plant was placed in service in 1983. That plant now has reached the end of its life cycle and soon will be decommissioned. However, its peaking and backup features must be replaced to maintain system reliability. The City recently conducted engineering studies to determine the best way to replace that capacity. After analyzing all of the possibilities, the most reliable and cost-effective option is to expand capacity at the Nelson Flanders Water Treatment Plant to ensure we fully support the drinking water needs of current and future Longmont residents.

The Nelson Flanders plant was placed in service in 2005 and was originally constructed with expansion in mind.

Schedule

The expansion project construction was originally scheduled to be completed at the end of 2024, but the construction material market for wood, steel, pipe and fuel is volatile with few vendors willing to hold prices for the durations needed for this project and is the cause for it being over budget at this time. The City is planning to re-evaluate market conditions for construction at the end of the first quarter in 2023. In the meantime, the City is continuing with the project design to further refine the project scope.

Public Notification

Residents near the Nelson Flanders Water Treatment Plant have received information about the project, schedule and potential impacts at a neighborhood meeting that was held in October 2021.

Funding

In 2019, the City Council approved a 5-year rate schedule that contemplated selling bonds to spread out the costs to upgrade Longmont’s aging water infrastructure over several years. As part of Longmont's City Charter, issuing bonds for any public purpose must be taken to voters for approval and in November 2020, 80% of voters approved issuing bonds for this project.

Contact

Joe Michalski, Senior Civil Engineer, 303-651-8612, joe.michalski@longmontcolorado.gov