First Quarter Newsletter  2025

Highlights of 2024

There were many noteworthy accomplishments in 2024 that we would like to share with our customers:

·         The total water treated and delivered to our customers – 359,980,151 gallons which equates to 1104.74 acre-feet.

·         Unaccounted for water (i.e. water produced and delivered into the system less water billed) was at 11 % for the year.  Unaccounted for water under 10% is considered excellent. 

·         The highest water usage month was in July with 52,270,796 gallons consumed by customers and the lowest usage month was November with 14,952,404 gallons consumed.  Customer usage, on average, was 3.5 times higher in July than in November of 2024.

·         The District completed the well drilling, pump house and transmission pipeline for its new Arapahoe Well 22 located off of County Line Road just east of I-25.  The new well is now operational.  The Arapahoe aquifer is one of 4 deep bedrock aquifers along the front range of Colorado from Fort Collins south to north Colorado Springs.  The Arapahoe is the third deepest with aquifer depths (in Woodmoor) being approximately 2,200 feet deep. 

·         The District continued its meter replacement program and as of the end of 2024, has replaced 2,590 meters or approximately 63% of the total meters system wide.  The residential portion of the program is still on track to wrap up toward the end of 2025 with commercial customer meter replacements being planned for 2026.  When you receive notice that your area is scheduled for meter replacement, please call and schedule your replacement appointment.  Customers should be aware that the new metering system and AquaHawk customer portal provide significantly more tools for customers to use such as:

o   Setting up personalized notifications such as leak alerts

o   Viewing your water usage data in real time (data updated every 4 hours)

o   When your bill is ready, viewing and paying your bill

o   Many other useful tools

o   Please visit https://www.utilityhawk.com/solution/water-utilities for more information on the features of the new metering system     

·         The District completed drilling a new Dawson aquifer well at the Central Water Treatment Plant site.  Construction crews are currently installing the transmission pipeline, electrical and controls with project completion anticipated by the end of February 2025.

Looking Forward into the new year

The New Year is here and with it a new budget.  We want to keep our customers informed and up to date on the various changes being made in the District and give some highlights of what to expect for this new year.   

As part of our annual financial planning, District staff along with our Rates Consultants perform several evaluations on our rates.  This year’s evaluation and guidance from the District’s Board of Directors yielded moderate rate increases for 2025.  Of course, inflation continues to be a factor in rate setting.  The following are highlights of the Board adopted rates for 2025:

Water Rates/Fees (2024):

Water Usage Fees –                                          Approximately 5% increase for all customer classes

Sewer Usage Fees –                                          5% increase for all customer classes

Water Tap Fees –                                              10% increase (new construction only)

Sewer Tap Fees –                                              No Change from 2024 (new construction only)

Renewable Water Investment Fee -                    No change from 2024

Another Heavy Year of Construction!

Although rates are a significant portion of the overall budgeting process, the District must continue to provide and improve services in order to meet its long term goals and objectives identified through its long range planning while also continuing to meet customer expectations. 

Below are some of those key projects that have been included in the 2025 budget:

·         Highway 105 B Utility relocation project - As we experienced, the widening of Highway 105 between Jackson Creek Parkway and Lake Woodmoor Drive had many of us on our toes driving through the construction corridor for most of the year.  As the 105A project comes to a close, El Paso County plans to continue the widening effort to the east in 2025 (Lake Woodmoor Drive to Martingale Road).  As with the first portion of this widening, some of the District’s utilities lines are going to be affected by the Phase B construction.  The District plans to relocate water and sewer lines in advance of Phase B construction toward the middle of 2025.     

·         Water system R&R – The District will continue to replace old system components (water lines, valves, fire hydrants, etc.) in 2025.

·         Well 12 Redrill – The District plans to redrill its Arapahoe aquifer well located at the end of the cul-de-sac on Muzzle Loader Way. 

·         Drill New Dawson Well at Well 11 Site - The District plans to drill another Dawson aquifer well at its Well 11 site located on Winding Hills Road.    

·         South Water Storage Tank Expansion.  The District is currently wrapping up permitting and State Health Department approvals for expanding its potable water storage tank capacity in south Woodmoor.  This project will provide the needed redundancy for tank maintenance as well as additional system resiliency.  Construction is anticipated to begin at the start of summer.   

·         The District continues to participate as a formal member of the Loop Water Authority, a coalition of water providers (Woodmoor, Town of Monument, and Donala Water and Sanitation District) that have come together to collaborate and further develop the Loop water project that will treat and transport Woodmoor’s renewable water (i.e. Ranch Water) to Woodmoor as well as other participants’ water to their respective service areas.  In 2022 the Loop Project was granted 4 million dollars through El Paso County and the American Recovery Plan Act (ARPA) to move this project forward, marking yet another milestone in the District’s renewable water plan that is aimed at curtailing its use of non-renewable groundwater and transitioning to using its renewable surface water supplies.      

·         Water Distribution System Renewal & Replacement -   The District plans to replace 120 service connection saddles (i.e. where a customer’s service line connects to the District’s main line) in and around some northern portions of the District (i.e. Woodcrest, Doewood, Top ‘O the Moor Subdivisions) as part of its ongoing water distribution system Renewal and Replacement (R&R) program.  The purpose of the R&R program is to replace aging infrastructure (old pipelines, service saddles, pressure zone PRV’s, etc.) that is vital to continue to provide reliable water delivery to customer homes.  Replacing older service connection saddles through a robust R&R program reduces the potential for future main line failures (i.e. main breaks) and disruptions in service.          

we want your feedback

To provide information that is beneficial and useful, we would like to hear back from you. Your feedback is important as customer feedback provides the District with useful information needed in order to improve our services.  We continue to appreciate your ideas and suggestions that help us to better communicate with our customers and to keep our customers connected with District business.  Please submit your feedback to Jessies@woodmoorwater.com or contact us through our website at www.woodmoorwater.com.