In this issue
Winter water-saving tips
Every drop counts! Save water this winter with these conservation tips:
- Winter is the perfect time for making plans to add or modify your landscape to use less water. Consider low-water gardens that attract wildlife, such as butterflies or birds. Or work around themes such as fragrance, edible, ornamental or native plants.
- Give your plants and grass a break. To melt ice on walks and pavement, apply a low-nitrogen fertilizer instead of salt.
- Check indoor fixtures for leaks and fix right away. A small leak left unattended can account for hundreds of gallons of good, clean water lost.
- Consider replacing an existing toilet with a high-efficiency model, which uses 1.28 gallons per flush or less. Denver Water offers rebates for new high-efficiency toilets, washing machines and other fixtures.
- Insulate your water heater and water pipes. Doing so will save energy and also will cut down on the amount of water that goes down the drain while waiting for hot water to flow.
- Install a low-flow showerhead.
Meet your Board member
Greg Austin, Vice President
Appointed: July 10, 2009
Term expires: July 10, 2013
Greg Austin is a former partner in the Denver law firm Holland & Hart LLP. He retired as a partner in 2001 but continued serving as of counsel to the firm until July 2009. Austin left Holland & Hart from 1973 to 1977 to serve as General Counsel to the U.S. Small Business Administration, and later as Solicitor (general counsel) of the U.S. Department of the Interior.
Austin serves on the board of directors of Craig Hospital, Rocky Mountain Public Broadcasting System, the Denver Police Foundation and the Holland & Hart Foundation. He also is a member of the Secretary of State’s Advisory Committee and has served on the Colorado State Treasurer’s Advisory Commission. He has participated for many years on the bar association committee that drafts corporation, partnership and other laws. He was named by Best Lawyers as the 2010 Denver Corporate Lawyer of the Year.
Denver’s Board of Water Commissioners is charged with ensuring a continuous supply of water to the people of Denver and its suburban customers. Among other duties, commissioners are responsible for setting water rates and monitoring the cost and maintenance of the system. The Board holds its public meetings generally twice a month. Commissioners are paid $600 annually ($25 per meeting) for their service. The mayor of Denver appoints Denver’s five-member Board of Water Commissioners to staggered six-year terms.
Your water rates at work
Crews are beginning a two-year, $17 million project to install a new hydro turbine and expand and repair the outlet works at Williams Fork Dam.
The dam’s outlet works, where operators control the amount of water flowing from the reservoir into the river, was installed during the dam’s original construction in the 1930s. Making repairs to the building’s aging electrical and mechanical systems, as well as to the 50-year-old valves, will bring the outlet works up to current state standards and help it run more efficiently.
Crews also will install a new 0.5 megawatt hydro turbine, which will increase the power plant’s generating capacity to 3.6 megawatts — enough electricity to power more than 3,000 homes. The new turbine also will allow Denver Water to generate electricity during reduced winter flows, when the water level is too low to generate power with the current largesize turbine.
The original dam at Williams Fork Reservoir, located about 20 miles west of Granby, was built in the 1930s. In the mid-1950s, Denver Water doubled the size of the dam, building it up to its current height of 217 feet, and installed a hydropower plant at Williams Fork — making it the first power plant in Denver
Water’s system. The construction work will begin in December and should be
finished in 2012.
New Year's Resolution: Make bill paying easier and greener
Paying your water bill can be quick, easy and ecofriendly. Try Denver Water’s convenient, FREE bill pay options:
- Automatic Payment Plan
Your water bill payment will automatically be withdrawn from your bank account. Never worry about the due date again. Your bill will always be paid
on time.
- Ready to go paperless? Subscribe to E-bills in addition to the Automatic Payment Plan.
- E-Bills
Stop paper bills and regularly receive and pay your bill via e-mail by subscribing to this easy and secure service. Pay with an electronic check, debit or credit card. -
Web Pay
Pay with an electronic check, debit or credit card. This online option is useful for last-minute payments, but it is not available for delinquent accounts or partial payments.
Did you know?
The average household’s water use in Denver Water’s service area breaks down into the following categories:
- 54 percent landscaping
- 13 percent toilets
- 11 percent laundry
- 10 percent showers and baths
- 6 percent faucets
- 5 percent leaks
- 1 percent dishwashers