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The Town’s main raw water pumps, pulling Colorado River water into the treatment plant, failed this week. The Town fortunately has two wells as secondary sources for drinking water and has switched to them.
This well water, laden with minerals (“hard” water), when introduced to Silt’s aging water mains sometimes produces a brown, murky tint to the water—a result of the manganese in the lines. The State of Colorado does not deem manganese in treated domestic water as harmful. Residents may experience this phenomenon until the pumps can be repaired and reinstalled.
Residents who notice murky tap water should do the following:
1) Call Town Hall, so that personnel can be dispatched to the affected area to flush hydrants and minimize occurrences;
2) Turn on cold water within the home or a hose bib on the outside of the house and run until clear;
3) Do not turn on hot water, as this will draw the manganese water into the residence’s water heater, with a potential to stain clothes in the washing machine.
There is also a potential that your home’s service lines and plumbing fixtures will contain metals that react to the changing alkalinity, temperature, and minerals in the Town’s domestic water. Older homes were sometimes built with different pipe compositions (galvanized iron, black iron, copper, etc.), and the combinations of metals can also cause the manganese build-up within the service lines to be released and other chemical reactions to occur.
Should you have any questions regarding this information sheet, please do not hesitate to contact Public Works Director Trey Fonner at (970) 876-2353 Ext. 106 or Town Administrator Jeff Layman at (970) 876-2353 Ext. 103.
Unexpected Puddle of Water? Call the Town!
Have you ever noticed a puddle of water that shouldn’t be there? Have a leak inside your house? Who do I call? What do I do? It’s simple! During regular business hours, 8AM To 5 PM, Monday through Friday, call Town Hall at 970-876-2353, Ext 0, for the operator and report it to the Town. After hours, on weekends or Holidays, call Garfield County Dispatch at 970-625-8095 and tell them you have a Town of Silt Public Works water emergency and report the problem to them. Silt Public Works staff will be notified and will come out to assess the situation. Questions? Call Public Works Director Trey Fonner at 970-876-2353, Ext. 106.
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With freezing temperatures on the horizon, the Town will begin draining down its irrigation system for winter on Friday, October 9th. Most homes will still have some irrigation water available through the following weekend from the Town’s water tanks, but all will be drained to prevent damage to the system during the following week.
Goats from Goat Green, LLC are busy eating noxious weeds at the Silt River Preserve this week as part of a demonstration project to see if they would be more effective at restoring the land than using herbicides and pesticides.
Returning the land to a healthy, natural ecosystem is a primary goal of the Town of Silt and the Aspen Valley Land Trust, partners in the Preserve. Home to a pair of bald eagle nests, a trail constructed last summer and the newly established Highwater Farms, the Silt River Preserve is a 131 acre Town park on the south bank of the Colorado River.
Should the goats be effective in their work, a grant might be used to bring them back for more extensive work in the near future. Among the benefits or using goats include reduced use of chemicals and fossil fuels, effective control of hemlock, poison oak, pampas grass, blackberry, thistle and mustard species of weed, aeration of soils, provide effective fertilizer and reduce wildland fire danger.
Goat Green deploys some 1,500 cashmere goats throughout the west.
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The Town of Silt Board of Trustees recently voted to authorize Town staff to re-open the community and business assistance funds using money from Colorado’s Coronavirus Relief Fund that has been provided to the State through the Federal CARES Act.
A portion of the funds allocated to Silt will be provided to Commercial/Business aid relief for business interruption, rent relief, facilities improvements and/or modifications. Another portion will be contributed to the non-profit River Center for housing, utilities and food assistance and a portion to “re-marketing” our tourism economy.
Applications for business aid may be found at www.townofsilt.org or at Silt Town Hall. There are two levels of support available: $3,500 that will be staff approved and the other, $3,500 and over that will take the authority of a subcommittee of the Board to approve. All Home-Based business applications will go to the subcommittee for review. To be considered, applications are due to the Town by October 26 at 8 AM.
The subcommittee consists of Mayor Keith Richel, Mayor Pro Tem Kyle Knott, Town Treasurer Amie Tucker and Town Administrator Jeff Layman. The “Silt Board of Trustees Recovery Subcommittee” will meet on October 28th to consider the applications.
Many Colorado towns have opened this source of support to their communities. Records are required to be kept that demonstrate sufficiency that payments by government to others meet strict US Government standards. Those standards are that the use of the funds received are to cover only those costs that (1) are necessary expenditures incurred due to the public health emergency, (2) were not accounted for in the budget most recently approved; and (3) were incurred during the period that begins on March 1, 2020, and ends on December 30, 2020.
Colorado drivers now have new requirements under the state’s “Move Over Law”, designed to keep emergency workers safe.
Previously, the law said drivers had to move one lane over, or slow down, when approaching a stopped emergency vehicle.
Now, drivers who are unable to move over, must slow down to 20 miles per hour below the speed limit.
“Once you slow your speed, you have seconds more to react,” CSP Sgt. Blake White said. “And that’s a difference truly in life or death for us.”
Legislators voted on the change last year, citing the need for change after five state troopers were killed by drivers in the past five years.
“That’s five of our friends, and colleagues, and people that we work with every day,” White said. “I would say I think about those five almost every day.”
FOX31 hit the road with State Patrol Friday afternoon, where Sgt. White parked along the side of Highway 85 near Littleton.
Driver after driver failed to move over, with few slowing down when they couldn’t.
“Zero effort to slow down, and it just happens time and time again,” White said from his squad car. “Two more vehicles as we’re talking.” Sgt. White says he understands it will take drivers some time to learn the law, but hopes they do slow down sooner rather than later.
“You’re going to save a life by doing that, and that’s all we ask.”
  
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