Westminster finalizes water treatment plant

Baker objects as plans move forward

BY LUKE ZARZECKI LZARZECKI@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

When the Westminster City Council voted April 24 to move ahead with plans for a new water treatment facility, all but one City Councilor agreed – and he brought his friends.

Residents voicing their concern for water rates and the council approving a new water treatment plant accounted for 44 voicemails that were left for Westminster’s city council before their April 24 city council meeting.

But some on the dais said those concerns were misguided.

“Listening to comments tonight from the public, it’s very evident that a lot of folks haven’t been listening for the past 18 months,” said City Manager Mark Freitag.

Freitag said that building a new water treatment is very complex and not only takes a long time to plan and make a decision, but that work also continues in the future.

“We make sure we maintain a system that meets the community’s needs, at a reasonable cost,” he said.

Council voted 6-1 to nalize the decision to move forward with the plant at the April 24 meeting. Baker, the sole dissenter, said he voted no because the city did not get a second opinion and that the same engineering rm has been used since 2019.

It comes a week after a study session where councilors accused Councilor Baker of misleading residents on water rates and facts about the water treatment plant.

“I know you’re trying to stack the deck next week for our city council meeting, terri c, but I don’t get it,” Mayor Nancy McNally said on April 17. “Four people, at least, said we’re moving and you’re trying to take us back. It’s frustrating.”

City Councilor Rich Seymour said something similar.

“You have embarked on a plan to, in some cases, abuse some of our senior population and scare them. I’ve gotten hysterical phone calls from people yelling at me about raising their water rates,” said City Councilor Rich Seymour at the April 17 study session.

Councilors voted to reduce water rates in February 2022 but then voted to increase them due to in ation eight months later. ey went on to approve a water treatment plant in January – one that cost $100 million less than originally planned.

In the past, Tom Scribner, water treatment superintendent, said the biggest risk to Westminster’s drinking water has been wild res and algae blooms. e water ows from Loveland Pass to Clear Creek to Farmers Highline Canal and into the lake. e current water treatment plant, Semper, can’t treat those risks.

Baker asked an hour’s worth of questions regarding the new treatment plant during the April 24 meeting, and Senior Engineer Stephanie Bleiker repeated those concerns.

“Flood conditions, wild re conditions, Semper can’t treat for that,” she said.

“Given the fact that Semper is there to treat water, these are all improvements that are called for and recommended,” she said. at means that water that can’t be treated needs to be drained and can’t be used by Westminster.

Baker also asked questions about how long Semper can last. e estimate is 10 to 20 years, which comes from an outside engineering rm — not city sta . If that’s the timeline, why replace the plant now, he asked.

Bleiker said that running Semper to the point of failure would be very consequential and Westminster would only have ve months’ worth of winter water demand to provide. She compared the situation to bridge repairs — cities don’t wait until a bridge fails to x it.

Bleiker noted that Semper can’t treat water and be rebuilt at the same time. She also said that loadbearing concrete is degrading and knowing the exact time a structure will fail is impossible, which is why it’s estimated that Semper will fail in 10 to 20 years.

“What you are hearing is (what) a structural engineer is recommending,” she said.