SOUTH FORK— During a meeting held by the South Fork Board of Trustees on Aug. 27, the board approved a town-wide ordinance to create the municipal water system. Ordinance 2019-03 was an extension of an ordinance that was passed in 2007 and basically highlights the rules and regulations for the future Water Enterprise for the town of South Fork.
In the ordinance it states that the water service areas recently acquired include Vista Del Rio, Dakota Park, Jackson Heights subdivisions, Ponderosa Plaza and Riverside Estates. It continues to read that the town does plan to expand and add additional water systems in the future to help alleviate issues that were noticed during the dry summer of 2018.
“The Town recognized the need to commence development of a municipal water system in the unusually dry summer of 2018 when some existing subdivision water systems were experiencing failure or insufficient pressure; and whereas, the Town has now successfully acquired five of the existing subdivision water systems located within the Town and anticipates the acquisition, expansion, connecting, or building of additional systems; and whereas, it has become necessary to set forth comprehensive rules, regulations, rate schedules, and operation guideline criteria for a municipal system to provide for the public health and safety.”
The document also highlights the need for fire hydrants to be placed with the help of the district fire chief throughout town and the water service areas. Hydrants will be placed in areas determined to be the best locations to ensure complete fire protection and will be inspected and maintained by the water system operator.
 The South Fork Board of Trustees will be in control of all water systems that are added to the Water Enterprise. The ordinance states that, “Such water system, and all things pertaining thereto, shall be under the control of the town board of trustees, who shall direct the maintenance and operation thereof and the construction of all additions thereto and in all cases not particularly provided for by ordinance, shall determine in what manner, and upon what terms, water may be taken from the Water System by any water consumer and the character of the connections and appliances which may be made or used therefore in accordance with CDPHE standards. The Board of Trustees may appoint, employ or contract a water system operator to carry out the duties and functions connected with the water system who shall be supervised by the town administrator.”
The entire document is available online at www.colorado.gov/southforkcolorado. During a work session held on Sept. 10, the board continued discussions pertaining to the Water Enterprise project and received updates from the engineer’s report from Town Administrator Dan Hicks. The project is in the early stages of development and will be a work in progress for many months to come.