Teller County Water & Sanitation District #1

Paint Pony Water


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Recent Repair Updates, Service Line Info & Rate Increases

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This memo was mailed at the end of January & emailed on 02/03/17.

To:       All Customers
From:   Board of Directors, Teller County Water & Sanitation District #1 (“TCWSD#1”)
Date:    01/31/17
Re:       Recent repair updates; service line info; rate increases

Repairs were made last month (in December) to two breaks:

  • The break on Sunnywood was repaired & taken care of the same day (Sun, 12/18/16).
  • The break on Chippewa was a service line break (i.e. a customer’s line). This repair was completed the day after the work was completed on the Sunnywood break.

If you’d like to review the Project Manager’s report (which provides detail on the two repairs), you can visit our website www.tellerwater1.com, or contact our office to request a copy.

Since the Chippewa repair involved a service line, it’s timely to provide you with information on service line issues…

In our system (and also in Woodland Park and Colorado Springs), you, as a homeowner “own” your service line from the water main to your home. This “ownership” has limits. You cannot operate your service line valve. You cannot replace, move or upgrade these lines without District approval and oversight. When leaks occur in/ by the road before your service line valve, the District is required to take action to stop the leak as soon as possible, and we do. A road side leak can compromise a road and endanger traffic. Road damage is considerably more costly to repair. If a service line leak occurs out in a yard and can be shut off by a service valve, or if the leak is negligible, the homeowner can be given a reasonable period of time to make repairs.

Anyone with a house built before about 1980 may have a steel service line. These lines are also referred to as “galvanized iron” or “GI” pipes. Galvanizing a steel pipe extends its useful life but these old service lines have outlived their utility. You may find a copper line enters your home in the crawl space or through the floor in a utility room. That does not signify that the line outside from the home to the property edge isn’t a steel pipe. It was a common practice in the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s to use more durable copper pipes at both ends of the service lines where the lines go under a structure and under the road because replacing lines in these locations is far more costly.

We urge owners of homes built before 1980 to determine if they have a steel service line. And if so, to get it replaced as soon as possible because, as in this case, the excavation and repairs we have just made will be charged to the homeowner. Moreover, the homeowner is also responsible for the water loss and will have to pay to re-excavate this site to replace the steel pipe greatly increasing their cost.

Service line insurance is available. AARP has begun offering this insurance. Two companies are:

The approved rate increases are in effect as of the beginning of this year.  You will see the rate changes on your next bill (the 2/1 bill). The rates are as follows:

  • $32       Basic Water
  • $11       For every 1000 gallons used (1-1000; 1000-2000, etc.)
  • $36       Loan Repayment (formerly known as Capital Improvement Fee)
  • $32       Sewer

The structure of the fees have changed. The minimum water charge used to be $27 for 0-2000 gallons, whether you used water or not. Now, $32 will be charged to every customer. Then for every 1000 gallons you use, there will be an $11 charge.

Please contact our office at (719) 687-0761, or email us at TellerWater@gmail.com, if you have any questions or would like more information.