Utilities director outlines lead removal progress and multi‑year funding plan for Englewood’s water, sewer and storm systems

Peter Vanry, director of utilities and South Platte Renew administration, presented a multi-year utilities update detailing capital projects, financing and rate implications for Englewood’s water, sewer and stormwater systems.

Vanry said the water utility serves roughly 34,000 residents and 2,100 businesses and currently operates 166 miles of pipe and several storage and pump stations. The department’s twin priorities are reinvesting in aging assets and right-sizing staffing. “Our biggest of which is the lead removal program,” Vanry said, reporting roughly 1,900 lead-service-line replacements completed to date and an estimate of 2,600–2,800 total replacements, with an anticipated completion by Q4 of the current year.

On financing, Vanry described a layered debt strategy that pairs a WIFIA (Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act) loan with State Revolving Fund (SRF) financing; the SRF award includes approximately $10 million in principal forgiveness tied to the lead program (federal dollars administered by the state), and ARPA dollars were used on other capital items. He explained the timing advantage of WIFIA draws—drawing only when projects are ready minimizes interest expenses—and said the utility has about $38.4 million in WIFIA funding carved out for treatment-plant improvements and roughly $21 million applied to sewer/South Platte Renew capital (staff gave approximate allocations during Q&A).

Vanry and Finance Director Kevin explained that capital spending timing drove a substantial “return to balance” in 2025 (underspends moving into 2026) and that project scheduling, contractor availability and in‑house capacity determine draw timing. Vanry proposed shifting some recurring distribution-line replacement work from contractors to a dedicated in‑house crew to accelerate replacements at lower per-unit cost.

Project highlights included the Allen Water Treatment Plant upgrades, installation of a centrifuge and dredge for solids handling to address taste-and-odor and pond volume issues, a Denver Water interconnect for emergency supply resiliency, city-ditch piping reaches and an AMI advanced-metering rollout (about 75% complete). Vanry said the stormwater fund recorded a short-term funding gap that was bridged with a $3 million interfund loan from sewer; staff plan an IGA with Mile High Flood District that would return about $8 million to the stormwater enterprise and provide a base fund balance for long-term stability.

On rates, Vanry presented comparative bill charts showing a combined water/sewer/storm bill of about $96/month for a 6,000-gallon user (2025), with an anticipated roughly $4 increase in 2026; he said Englewood remains comparatively affordable for average usage but plans to move from a declining-block rate structure to an inclining-block structure to encourage conservation.

Committee members asked detailed follow-ups on total capital executed since 2022, interest-savings tradeoffs, SRF/WIFIA draw schedules, and remaining lead-program spend (staff provided estimated totals: about $33M expended to date of a ~$40M SRF allocation, with roughly $6–7M remaining for distribution system work). Vanry said bid savings, project scoping and an additional SRF grant prospect have closed much of the near-term funding gap and that the city expects to close remaining gaps through a combination of debt and schedule optimization over the next several years.

The committee did not take formal action on policy changes; members asked staff for supporting financial detail ahead of a separate operating-budget discussion.