BETWEEN A ROCK & A HARD PLACE

Granby, Colorado, is a small town that has been playing catch up after inaccurately assessing the true cost of water service for far too long. Increasing rates is often a contentious process because water systems are multifaceted and vast. Water system managers acutely understand the state of their infrastructure, but for a governing board with a lesser understanding, it can be difficult to and if their complexities are not well understood, it is difficult to garner support for further investment in them.

Communicating the complexities and scope of a water system to a governing board is challenging, and therefore gaining support for rate increases to fund that system often is a contentious process. Unfortunately, this left Granby working against 30 years of unrealistic rates. They're between a rock and a hard place, unable to keep up with asset replacement because water revenues, and ultimately savings, are insufficient.

Customer since 2017 | Population: 2,074

BACKGROUND

Granby, Colorado, is a town of approximately 1864 residents, located about 85 miles northwest of Denver. Water department staff previously relied on consultants and engineers for water rate reviews, most recently contracting with an engineer for a rate study analysis at a cost of $10K. With that contract, they'd also need the engineer to present to the board, with the potential need for follow-ups, all at additional cost.

Doug Bellatty, Superintendent of the Town Water Departments, felt that even with those follow-ups, the engineer's analysis would be inadequate, since it would be assessing existing infrastructure but not really addressing future needs, such as infrastructure replacement and community development. It was a situation that would leave Granby stuck in a band-aid approach, because of reserves that are — and would remain — essentially empty. They were unable to reconcile inadequate reserves with work that desperately needs to be done. (And this in spite of the fact that they managed to put aside four times more than what they'd planned for in 2018.)

In addition, Doug says the community has also been deferring maintenance (for years) to keep rates low, despite severely outdated infrastructure. And that aging infrastructure is unable to adequately support current needs, never mind future development. So with growing urgency, Granby has been trying to make up for lost time, and as Doug points out, “That's not how you run a sustainable water system.”

"Because of Waterworth, we're able to more accurately account for what assets we have, what the value is, and what the replacement costs are."

Doug Bellatty, Water Superintendent
Town of Granby, Colorado

GETTING UNSTUCK WITH WATERWORTH

Waterworth helps Doug and his team convey the dire condition of the system to the board, allowing them to drive home the message that raising rates is absolutely critical. Waterworth also helps make the message crystal clear that the revenue generated through those increases is essential to annual reinvestment in the system — reinvestment that is long overdue.

Doug says that with Waterworth, he knows the direction he needs to be moving with rate increases, and he's able to clearly convey that information to the people who make the final decisions. He particularly appreciates Waterworth's graphs — easily explained visual depictions of “what's going on with the system”. Also of great value is the ability to demonstrate live, in real-time, how even small changes to rates, up or down, will impact the model. Doug says being able to visually, “...represent the system, its state, is very important because these folks [on the board] aren't focused on this stuff.”

These more meaningful conversations with elected officials, about both the state of the current system and future needs, have been crucial to improving what was previously no more than a very basic grasp of the scope of the system. “They don't really understand how many water treatment systems we have, how much compliance we have, how elaborate the system is,” Doug says. With Waterworth, he finds it easier to help the board connect the dots and gain a deeper understanding of the true cost of reliable, safe water service, both currently and into the future.

"Waterworth is the only version of a crystal ball that I have at my disposal."

Doug Bellatty, Water Superintendent
Town of Granby, Colorado

THE VALUE OF PROFESSIONAL SUPPORT

Initially, Doug had a few concerns about making the switch to Waterworth. He was concerned about his own technical ability as far as learning to use the program, as well as about compiling and entering the necessary data. But as the sole administrator of four water systems, someone with little help and huge demands on his time, Doug was particularly concerned about the time commitment Waterworth would require, both in terms of the initial data entry and actually performing annual rate reviews.

But since starting with the software, Doug has found that Waterworth's support staff has been great at helping keep him on track, making progress toward meeting his goals, even going as far as providing live support during presentations to the board. Describing the staff he's worked with as, “Very patient, very capable,” Doug says support has been so good, he can envision a time when he'll be comfortable using Waterworth on his own, even with the constraints on his time. “Down the road, I think that it's entirely likely that I'll be able to handle it all by myself.”

AN EYE TO THE FUTURE

Doug's goal is to get the system into the best financial position possible over the next 12 years. He's aiming to build enough cash reserves to replace the town's water treatment plant, if not to pay for it outright then to at least qualify for grants or loans to cover any shortfall. Because that 40-year-old plant, “Will not last forever. It's at its end as it is.”

Granby is also bringing a new water system online soon, due to a large development, and Doug is excited about getting that system into Waterworth as well. “I look forward to doing that data entry,” he says, “all that infrastructure that's fairly new, and hopefully we're able to include capital replacement and operational maintenance... in those rates.”

Overall, Doug's plan is to continue using Waterworth to illustrate the system's needs to the board, to deepen their understanding and gain their support for the incremental, annual rate increases that are absolutely critical to reaching those long-term goals. Because, as he says, “If you're arguing the facts with a person [who doesn't understand the system], you're wasting your breath. But if you can hit a tone, hit a chord, that makes sense to them, then at least you have a shot. And that's what your product offers.”