DENVER — Most Denver Water customers will see their monthly bills increase slightly in 2021.
The Denver Board of Water Commissioners adopted rate changes on Wednesday to help pay for its new Lead Reduction Program that launched in January 2020.
The rate change for the Lead Reduction Program will take effect Jan. 1, 2021. All residential customers will see a slight increase in both the fixed monthly charge and the price per gallon of water, according to Denver Water.
A customer in Denver using 102,000 gallons as they did in 2020 would see an overall rise in their monthly bill of 67 cents.
“Denver Water has long had a philosophy of small, slow and steady rate increases to cover the cost of delivering clean, safe water to our customers now and into the future,” said Denver Water CEO/Manager Jim Lochhead. “Under normal circumstances, we anticipated the need for a 3% to 5% increase to cover our existing costs plus our new, groundbreaking Lead Reduction Program. But with the economic consequences of the pandemic evident across our community, Denver Water has cut its costs and scaled back the necessary increase to 1.5%, ensuring we can cover the cost of our new Lead Reduction Program and also move forward on a series of major, multiyear projects to ensure we’re meeting our commitment to our customers.”
> Above video: Denver changing pH level of its water as part of lead reduction plan.
Denver Water said the Lead Reduction Program aims to reduce the risk of lead getting into customers’ drinking water by replacing lead service lines that are in Denver Water’s service area at no direct cost to the customer.
Customers enrolled in the program are being provided with water pitchers and filters to use for drinking, cooking and preparing infant formula until six months after their lead service line is replaced.
The lead service lines will be replaced over a 15-year period.
Denver Water said its proposed five-year, $1.5 billion capital plan includes about 100 projects, in addition to the Lead Reduction Program, aimed at "maintaining or upgrading infrastructure and ensuring the utility has the flexibility needed to ensure a reliable water supply as weather patterns in the future veer from the past and the population grows."
For more information, visit denverwater.org.
DENVER WATER FUN FACTS:
- Serves 1.5 million people in the Denver metro area.
- Operates and maintains 3,000 miles of pipe.
- Operates and maintains 20 dams.
- Operates and maintains 22 pump stations.
- Operates and maintains 30 underground storage tanks.
- Operates and maintains four treatment plants.
- Collection system covers more than 4,000 square miles.
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