Preparing for the future by investing today
Turn on your tap, and clean water flows out. Flush your toilet, and dirty water goes way. When you have reliable water service, you don’t think about the infrastructure that brings water to your home or business and then safely returns it to the environment.
But we all should.
The condition of Westminster’s water and wastewater infrastructure is declining. A large portion of Westminster’s water infrastructure is now close to 50 years old, with studies showing that just 44% of its useful life remains. In fact, 25% of this infrastructure is already past its designed life.
If we don’t reinvest and the condition of our existing infrastructure continues to decline, our community will face increased maintenance costs and more expensive repairs in the future. By being aware of this challenge and addressing it head-on, the City of Westminster is in a much better position than many communities across the country
Learn more about how the city’s Public Works and Utilities Department is preparing for the future by investing today
what we do
The Public Works and Utilities Department (PWU) is comprised of three Divisions that are reponsible for the safe and efficient operation of the City's water, wastewater, stormwater, streets, fleet, facilities and utility billing.
The department's Divisions and their responsibilities include:
Engineering Division:
The City Engineering Division is comprised of three sections: Utilities Engineering, Civil Engineering, and Geographical Information Systems. These Sections are responsible for planning, prioritizing, and implementing capital improvement projects to sustain and develop infrastructure supporting public services, health and safety of our City. The Geographic Information System (GIS) Section manages and leads GIS technology deployment, support, and enhancements across all City operations and provides asset management for all the utility infrastructure. The Utilities Engineering Section includes stormwater, water quality and water resources and is responsible for managing the City’s raw water supply, protects existing water rights, plans for future water needs, and monitors the City’s water from source to discharge to ensure compliance with regulations. The Civil Engineering Section is responsible for managing projects to improve our street and traffic infrastructure, and City facilities, which includes our fire stations, recreation centers, City Hall, and other municipal buildings.
Operations Division:
The Operations Division is comprised of three sections: Fleet, Facilities and Streets. Fleet manages and maintains the City’s fleet of approximately 750 assets. This workgroup conducts vehicle and equipment maintenance and repairs, ensuring a proactive preventive maintenance program. Vehicle and equipment utilization, fuel management, acquisitions, and disposals are all managed or coordinated by Fleet. Facilities oversees ongoing maintenance and repairs, custodial services, recycling, and waste disposal, and building operations for City facilities. Facilities utilizes staff to perform daily maintenance and repairs, as well as a variety of external vendors. This workgroup is responsible to monitor the City’s gas & electric bills through monthly reviews of usage and advising the individual facility management of any abnormalities. Streets Operations provides overall maintenance of streets and city owned parking lots. Maintenance items include, pavement, traffic signs, pavement markings, street sweeping, snow and ice control, and the Adopt-A-Street Program.
Utilities Operations Division:
Utilities maintains and operates approximately 550 miles of water lines, 27 miles of reclaimed water lines, 24 miles of raw water lines, 400 miles of sanitary sewer lines, 10 drinking water tanks, 6 pump stations, 6 lift stations, two drinking water treatment facilities, wastewater treatment facility, a full reclaimed water system with treatment and distribution and a stormwater system. The Division also includes Utility Billing including central cashiering program for city revenues and billing assistance programs.