The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Set up to take care of full build out
[ By Mark Reaman ]
The Mt. Crested Butte Water and Sanitation District had an official open house Thursday, September 29 for its new $23.1 million water treatment plant (WTP) and the best news might be that it appears to be coming in at about $1 million under budget.
The district added 2,200 square feet of administration space and 4,000 square feet of process floor space to the existing/old water treatment plant which was repurposed. That will essentially double the capacity for the plant so that two million gallons of water can be treated every day instead of the one million gallons per day in the old facility. The original plant was constructed in 1985. The new design will also allow for additions if needed so that eventually 2.5 million gallons could be treated daily in the future.
“We are still awaiting final numbers from all the contractors and subcontractors, but we are projecting to be approximately $1 million under budget which is outstanding for this construction environment while managing COVID, supply chain issues and inflation,” said district manager Mike Fabbre. “We are extremely proud of this as a huge cost savings to our constituents and the community.”
While $23 million is not cheap, it’s not bad for a water treatment plant and Fabbre said the timing of the project turned out to be pretty good for the financing as well.
“The cost is being facilitated through by State Revolving Fund through the Colorado Water Resources and Power Development Authority (CWRPDA),” Fabbre explained. “It’s a $23.1 million, 20-year municipal bond at a 1.29% interest rate. This is the lowest interest rate by the CWRPDA for a leveraged loan on record and most likely will not come close to that low anytime in the near future. That is another huge cost savings of potentially millions of dollars over the life of the loan for our constituents.”
Fabbre said the plant improvement was designed for full build-out of the district with modifications and additions in the future. Planning of the project started in 2017 with construction commencing in 2020.
