Firestone’s Water Story

Few things are more connected to Firestone’s long-term prosperity than water; more specifically, the Town’s ability to acquire, store, treat, and distribute life-sustaining water to our growing community. The Town of Firestone is constantly asking the questions - Do we have enough? Where is it coming from? How do we most efficiently treat it? Can we afford it?

It is well known that Colorado communities are reliant upon water to grow – to literally survive. As the northern Front Range continues to grow, the pressure to secure the necessary water intensifies. Specifically, in Firestone, we know that if we don’t grow, our neighbors all around us will. For Firestone, that means dealing with all the challenges associated with growth, with limited opportunities to benefit from it.

Regionally we are seeing examples of other cities and towns dealing – and sometimes struggling – with the need to sustain the practice of providing safe, clean drinking water. Across our region, these struggles come in many forms. The good news is that Firestone is ahead of the curve in diversifying its supply and treatment options.

There are many recent examples of regional cities and towns trying to deal with water-related issues

North Weld water-tap moratorium halts building permits in Weld County town (1/25/2022)
Severance faces tough sell in securing Greeley solution for water treatment (1/25/2022)
Severance slashes $2M from budget amidst North Weld Water tap moratorium (1/22/2022)
Greeley City Council approves water and sewer bonds for system improvements, expansions (1/11/2022)
2021 Water Efficiency Plan Draft from the Town of Frederick
Major $2.6 billion, 10-year investment on tap (10/27/2021)
Day 5 without running water in Colorado City (7/24/2021)
Northern Colorado cities brace for water problems due to 2020 fires (4/28/2021)
Johnstown works to fix water, image problems (11/18/2019)
Northern Colorado cities eye regional collaboration on water (1/12/2019)

And of course, in Firestone, we have seen a steady stream of issues connected to the Central Weld County Water District in the form of rate increases and water use restrictions.

Water Alert from Central Weld County Water District (6/18/2021)

St. Vrain Water Treatment Facility under construction (summer 2021)

In Firestone, we are planning for sustainable growth. Growth that adds value to our community. That value comes in many forms – amenities like parks, trails, open spaces, additional shopping, and employment opportunities. And the ability to plan for and implement necessary capital improvements. These all require the Town to focus on expanding and diversifying its revenue base. Water is a critical piece of that plan.

In the spring of 2020, the Town adopted the 2020-2050 Water Action Plan. While the Town took the biggest and most visible steps in 2020 – including issuance of water enterprise revenue bonds to build a new water treatment plant and provide for reservoir storage and distribution pipelines – planning for implementation of this plan dates back many years.

Did you know...

The Town’s efforts to plan for its water future date back to 2003? Between 2003 and the Spring of 2020, the Town of Firestone invested more than $28 million in water infrastructure and planning! Those expenditures run the gamut from supply planning, treatment engineering, and design, distribution engineering and design, land acquisition, and almost everything in between. Failure to fully implement the Water Action Plan would have potentially wasted a generation’s worth of investment.

Over the coming weeks, the Town will share with residents many important facts about our Water Action Plan – its importance for both current and future residents, our path toward greater diversity in our supply, more certainty in our ability to provide treated water for homes and businesses, redundancy in treatment and distribution, and long term water sustainability.