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Delivering Clean Drinking Water and Exceptional Value

When you think about what it takes to deliver clean, safe and reliable drinking water to Greeley Water customers, it’s hard to believe it only costs about half a cent per gallon.

“We are fortunate to live in a city where you can turn on a faucet and immediately fill a glass with clean, great-tasting drinking water,” said Sean Chambers, director of the city’s water and sewer department. “There is real value to that. We work hard to maintain a diverse water system to ensure our customers can access clean and safe drinking water.”

Greeley’s Water and Sewer Department provides exceptional value to its customers in terms of water and wastewater services. Historically, Greeley’s water and sewer rates rank in the middle of the pack with other Front Range communities. Greeley residents typically spend four times more on phone and internet services than water and wastewater services.

The city’s water rates cover costs associated with acquiring water rights, water storage, distribution, treatment, operations and providing maintenance on the city's infrastructure.

Greeley has over 670 miles of pipes that deliver drinking water to residents. Some of those lines are over 100 years old and susceptible to breaks and leaks. And Greeley’s not alone. According to the EPA, there are over 240,000 water main breaks in the United States yearly—or more than 600 per day. These breaks result in the loss of 2.1 trillion gallons of clean drinking water yearly, or enough to fill the Empire State Building over 7,000 times!

The city’s water conservation team has tools to help customers reduce water waste and maximize savings. Product rebates, water efficiency assessments and waterwise landscaping ideas contribute to the water value customers receive daily.

Water Efficiency Assessments Identify Water-Saving Tactics

Greeley Water customers can request a free water efficiency assessment to save money and water.

The amount of savings varies depending on the number of people living in the home, the landscape size, and the age of the home or business. Most customers can expect to see some water savings. Still, those in older houses or buildings typically achieve the highest water savings because those systems tend to be less efficient.

Customers can schedule an indoor or irrigation assessment online to evaluate their water use. Irrigation assessments are very popular during the summer, and the schedule can fill quickly. 

After each assessment, the customer receives a tailored report explaining how to be more efficient with water use. Available rebates and incentives help customers reach their efficiency goals and maximize their return on investment. 

In some cases, upgrades can pay for themselves in water savings in as little as one year. 

Compost Helps Maximize Long-term Health of Lawn

Installing seed, sod, or overseeding your lawn without using compost is like building a house without a foundation.

Compost has many long-term benefits for your lawn, such as improved soil structure, increased nutrient availability, higher water-holding capacity, reduced runoff, and enhanced microbial activity. Incorporating compost into the soil can yield 30% water savings over the landscape's lifetime.

Anyone installing seed, sod, or overseeding a new area of lawn in Greeley must apply for a lawn variance and incorporate compost during installation.

The lawn variance provides more water at the lowest tiered rate. It allows watering at any time of the day to help establish the lawn.

“Although the preparation work may require additional time and effort, the initial investment will pay off over the lifetime of the landscape through substantial water savings and reduced maintenance costs,” said Ben Schaffer, a City of Greeley water conservation coordinator.

Keep Grease Out of Drains

You may dump many things down your sink or toilet without thinking too much about it. But did you know that the health of your plumbing system relies on your making smart choices?

When fats, oils, and grease (FOG) build up in sewer mains, they can clog and overflow into people’s homes, businesses, streets, and rivers. Not only is this a health hazard, but it’s also costly to clean up.

You Can Make a Difference!

• Pour cooled fats, oils and grease into a container and throw away.
• Use a paper towel to wipe FOG from dishes and put it in the trash.
• Put food scraps in the trash, not through garbage disposal.

The best advice? Don’t treat your sink or toilet like a trash can!

Your Lawn Can't Take a Selfie!

Do you brag about your water-wise lawn or colorful garden to anyone who will listen?

Share your joy (and your photo) with others!

If we feature your photo in our Water & Sewer newsletter, we'll send you some City of Greeley swag as a token of our appreciation!

Send your photo and contact info to WaterNews@greeleygov.com. 

Thanks for doing your part to keep Greeley clean and beautiful!

Funding Greeley's Future

Join us on Thursday, July 11, at 6:30 p.m. for a virtual community meeting regarding 'Driving Greeley, Protecting Greeley.' This November, the city may ask voters to consider three ballot measures to tackle much-needed infrastructure and public safety improvements. City leaders will share details and answer your questions about these measures at this informative webinar. 

For more information, visit greeleygov.com/funding-greeley