How Jesik Consulting & Engineering Helped Avondale, CO Fund a Multi-Million Dollar Water Infrastructure Program

Rural water and wastewater districts across Colorado face the same basic problem every year: infrastructure keeps aging, regulations keep evolving, and ratepayer bases stay small. Turning a long list of needed upgrades into a fundable, buildable program takes more than good engineering. It takes a funding strategy that can compete for limited public dollars while keeping rates manageable for the community.

Avondale Water and Sanitation District, serving roughly 1,600 people east of Pueblo, recently earned statewide attention for exactly this kind of work. Coverage of the District’s multi-phase improvement program highlighted how a small rural utility pieced together several public funding sources into a coordinated capital plan rather than chasing upgrades one at a time. We have served as the District’s engineer for more than a decade, and that partnership offers a useful look at how small utilities build a capital program that actually gets funded and constructed.

The Scope of a Multi-Phase Water and Wastewater Program

Avondale’s current program touches nearly every part of the system. On the drinking water side, planned and in-progress work includes treatment plant upgrades, distribution system replacements, and metering improvements, along with chlorination modifications to support Arkansas Valley Conduit supply and pH adjustment. The scope also covers filter removal and repiping, new finished water pumps, inline booster pumps, and replacement of asbestos-cement pipeline that has reached the end of its service life.

Storage is part of the picture as well. The program includes recoating an existing 750,000-gallon bolted steel tank and replacing an older 180,000-gallon tank with a new 500,000-gallon welded steel tank, giving the District more reliable capacity for daily demand and fire flow. Larger storage capacity also gives a small system more flexibility during pump or treatment downtime, which matters when a district does not have a large operations staff available to respond to unexpected issues around the clock.

On the wastewater side, the District is consolidating the Fort Reynolds lagoon into the Avondale wastewater treatment facility. That work involves replacing an existing lift station and installing thousands of linear feet of HDPE pipeline to connect the two systems. Consolidating a smaller lagoon system into a single treatment facility is a common strategy for rural districts, since it reduces the number of permitted discharge points and operational sites a lean staff has to maintain and monitor over time.

A separate wastewater planning study is evaluating deficiencies, alternatives, costs, and rate impacts over a 20-year horizon, so the District has a clear picture of what comes next. That kind of long-range planning document is often what funding agencies want to see before committing construction dollars, since it demonstrates that a district understands its full system rather than reacting to the most urgent repair in isolation.

Programs of this size rarely move forward through general fund dollars alone. For municipalities and special districts weighing similar upgrades, our municipal and public works engineering services are built around exactly this kind of multi-phase planning, from early condition assessments through construction-phase support. That range matters for small districts, since it means one team can carry a project from an initial capital improvement plan all the way through the punch list, rather than handing it off between separate firms at each stage.

Coordinating Funding Across Multiple Public Sources

One of the more instructive parts of Avondale’s program is how many funding sources it draws on at once. Rather than relying on a single grant or loan, the District’s documented funding stack includes Pueblo County ARPA dollars for water and sanitation improvements, a CDPHE Emerging Contaminants planning and design grant, a separate CDPHE wastewater contract, a construction contract for the Fort Reynolds lift station and pipeline work, and a task order for the wastewater planning study. Together, these commitments total approximately $4.3 million.

Emerging contaminants funding is worth a closer look, since PFAS regulation is becoming a bigger factor for water systems statewide. Avondale is using its grant for treatment alternatives evaluation, pilot testing, and planning and design documentation, with future Drinking Water Revolving Fund support anticipated for construction. That sequencing matters. Planning and design work needs to be far enough along, and technically sound enough, before a system can competitively pursue construction financing.

For a district with a limited ratepayer base, matching each phase of work to the funding source it actually qualifies for is often the difference between a project that stalls and one that gets built. This kind of layered financing approach is common across the water and wastewater systems we support, and it is one reason phased planning matters as much as the engineering itself.

Each funding source also comes with its own timeline, application cycle, and reporting expectations. County recovery dollars, state emerging contaminants grants, and revolving fund loans are not administered the same way, and they rarely open for applications at the same time of year. Sequencing a capital program around these cycles, rather than around an idealized construction schedule, is often what keeps a project on track. A district that tries to bundle everything into a single application can end up waiting years for one large approval, while a phased approach lets construction start on the pieces that are ready while planning continues on the rest.

Why an Owner’s Representative Matters on Public Infrastructure Projects

Beyond design, we have served Avondale as owner’s representative, handling procurement documentation, construction-phase support, and regulatory coordination alongside planning and design. For a small district with limited in-house staff, that role fills a real gap. Someone has to track submittals, coordinate between contractors and funding agencies, and keep documentation aligned with grant requirements, all while the day-to-day utility keeps running.

An owner’s representative also acts as a technical translator between the district’s board, its funding agencies, and its contractors. Grant and loan programs typically come with their own reporting requirements, procurement rules, and inspection standards. Missing a documentation requirement can delay reimbursement or put funding at risk, so having a team that understands both the engineering and the funding side of a project reduces that risk considerably.

On the construction side, this coordination includes reviewing contractor pay applications, verifying that installed work meets plans and specifications, and confirming that materials and workmanship hold up to inspection. Our construction quality control and assurance services and geotechnical field services support this kind of oversight directly, giving districts confidence that public funds are being used as intended.

This role also matters when unexpected conditions come up mid-project, which happens often on pipeline and lift station work. Underground infrastructure rarely matches record drawings exactly, and a district needs someone who can evaluate a field change, confirm it fits within the project’s budget and funding terms, and keep the work moving without a lengthy pause. Having that oversight in place from day one, rather than trying to add it after issues arise, tends to produce smoother, more predictable construction schedules for everyone involved.

What Other Rural Colorado Communities Can Take From This

Avondale’s program was also recognized by the Colorado Rural Water Association, which named the District its Energy Efficient System of the Year for improvements including variable-frequency-drive integration, pump replacement, and controls optimization. We covered that recognition and the efficiency work behind it in a separate look at Avondale’s energy efficiency improvements. Together, the efficiency award and the current capital program point to the same underlying lesson: consistent, phased investment tends to outperform waiting for a crisis.

For other utilities across Pueblo County and Southern Colorado, a few patterns from Avondale’s approach tend to transfer well. Start planning and design work early enough to line up with grant cycles rather than after a system is already in distress. Look for more than one funding source rather than assuming a single grant will cover an entire program. Sequence construction so that storage, treatment, and distribution work complement each other instead of competing for the same budget year. And build civil engineering support into the process from the beginning, since civil engineering touches nearly every phase of a water or wastewater upgrade, from site grading around a new tank to utility layout for pipeline replacement.

It is also worth noting that none of this happens without a clear-eyed assessment of where a system actually stands today. Districts sometimes delay engaging an engineer until a failure forces the issue, which limits how many funding options are realistically available. Systems that bring in engineering support earlier, even just for a condition assessment or a preliminary planning document, tend to have more time to pursue competitive grants and more flexibility in how a program gets phased. That single decision, made early, often shapes how smoothly the rest of the program unfolds.

Quick Recap for Districts Planning a Capital Program

Rural water and wastewater programs succeed when planning, funding, and construction management work together instead of happening in isolation. Avondale’s program did not come together overnight, and it required coordination across county, state, and federal-adjacent funding sources alongside years of engineering groundwork. A few takeaways worth keeping in mind for any district weighing a similar path:

• Match each phase of a project to the funding source it is best suited for, rather than assuming one grant will cover everything.
• Start planning and design early so your system is ready when a funding cycle opens.
• Treat regulatory planning, such as PFAS evaluation, as its own funded phase rather than an afterthought.
• Bring in owner’s representative support to manage procurement, documentation, and contractor coordination.
• Build in construction-phase quality control to protect the public investment once work is underway.

These principles held true for Avondale, and they tend to hold true for utilities of similar size across the state. Learn more about our team and approach on our About Us page.

Ready to Plan Your District’s Next Phase?

Whether your utility is facing aging pipeline, new PFAS requirements, or a capital plan that needs a clearer funding path, our team has spent more than a decade helping rural Colorado water and wastewater districts move projects from concept to construction. We would welcome the chance to talk through where your system stands today and what a realistic, fundable next phase could look like.

Request a Consultation with our team to start planning your district’s next infrastructure phase, or reach out through our Contact page with any questions.