Money Down the Sewer - A Case Study in Three Acts

Act One - The Expansion We Didn't Need

Sewer plants are permitted by the State for a specific flow into the plant; the flow is measured in millions of gallons per day (MGD). When the flow into the plant reaches 95% of the permitted capacity the State requires construction of an expansion to a plant to commence.

The Littleton/Englewood Waste Water Treatment plant, which serves the area between the foothills and I25 and between County Line Road and Evans, was permitted for 36MGD (the dotted blue line in the chart). During the 1990s the flow increased into the plant. The plant staff projected flow into the plant to continue increasing into the future, even though the actual flow peaked in 1999, as shown in the chart below (solid black line).

The Englewood and Littleton city councils approved the start of construction of a project to expand capacity of the plant to 50 MGD in 2004 on the advice of the plant staff, even though flows into the plant had been decreasing every year for the previous five years. The cost, with financing, of the expansion was more $100 million.

I opposed the expansion of the plant because the flows never reached a level which would require the expansion to be built. As you can see from the chart, the actual flow into the plant (25 MGD) is now about one half of the new capacity of the plant (50MGD) after the expansion.

Act Two - Paying for the Project

Plant expansions are designed to handle new growth. My position was that new users should pay for capacity built to handle new growth.

The rate consultants used a model for calculating new user changes based on flow into the plant increasing. Since the flow into the plant was decreasing, the result was that existing users were paying for capacity designed to benefit new users. The consultants refused to abandon their model even though it clearly did not match the current circumstances, and the Littleton City Council agreed with the consultant until the majority of the council was replaced in the 2007 election.

After 2007 when the majority on the council was replaced, the council changed fees charged to new users in order to transfer the costs of the expansion from existing users to new users.

Act Three - A New Disinfection System We Didn't Need

In 2009, one year after completing the expansion project, the plant staff and their consultants Brown and Caldwell, decided the new systems just installed in the expansion would not work for certain types of pollutants. They decided they needed a new ultraviolet type disinfection system for $10 million. Brown and Caldwell authored a study which concluded the existing systems at the plant could not meet the new regulations which would take effect in 2014.

The problem with the study was that conclusion was wrong. Data being collected by the plant staff and reported to the state, which was not shown in the study, showed the plant was already meeting the new regulations that would go into effect in 2014. I was aware of that data and what it meant, and persuaded the Littleton council to hire CH2MHILL, an engineering firm, to analyze the data reported to the state and examine the existing systems at the plant. Their conclusion was that the existing systems had a greater than 99% probability of meeting the future 2014 requirements. The Littleton council, after reading the CH2MHILL study, refused to fund the new disinfection system. saving millions in wasteful spending.

Experience Counts

You may not know why your fees and rates are going up, but they are. If your elected representatives do not know or, do not understand, how the rates are set and why expansions and new systems are needed, or not needed, they cannot represent your interests.

I have the experience that is needed in order to represent your interests. I have the experience that is needed to know what projects are needed, and what projects are wasteful government expenditures.