Our History
The Menoken Water Company was originally incorporated on January 26, 1960 under the provisions of Chapter 31 Article 20 of CRS 1953 as a rural water company serving a sparsely populated agricultural area. Initial construction of the system began in 1962 serving 133 taps. The source water was obtained from a spring and infiltration gallery located in Pelton’s gulch 2.0 C.F.S. priority no. 247 absolute May 2, 1960. The water was softened and pumped into the distribution pipelines. During the late 1970's the ion-exchange softener was taken off line and the water was distributed after chlorination. During this same period, the Project 7 Water Authority was formed constructing a central treatment plant and a large transmission pipeline to provide treated water for the six public water systems in the valley. When Project 7 came on line in 1980, Menoken stopped using the spring field and plant altogether. All water sold in the Menoken Water system is treated at the Project 7 Water Authority plant.
The original Menoken system, as well as expansions during the 1970's was funded by the Farmers Home Administration (FmHA). The District paid off this debt in 1992 and is currently debt free. Recent expansions have been cash funded by the District, the U.S.B.O.R. and Developers.
On November 10, 1997 the Water Company was converted to a TITLE 32 Water District. Title 32 defines a water district to be a quasi-municipal corporation and political subdivision of the state, 32-1-103(25), C.R.S. The Distict does not have taxing authority. All expenses for operating the system is paid from revenues generated by the sale of water and new tap fees to customers.
General System Information
The District service area covers 48 square miles. The system has all the attributes and infrastructure of any of the large municipalities of the state, with distribution pipelines along virtually every public road, highway, street, and lane within the service area.
The distribution system consists of approximately 95 miles of pipeline ranging in size from 1" to 14". The majority of the pipeline is 200 p.s.i. PVC pipe, the remainder is approximately 6 miles of the original A.C. pipe installed in the 1960's. The minimum pipe size allowed in rural county roads and residential subdivision streets is 6". The minimum pipe size allowed in commercial areas and along highways is 8". The system is gravity fed by Project 7 at 3 master meter feeds along Hwy 50. There are also two additional supplemental feeds through the Tri County system and the Town of Olathe. The entire Menoken system is a gravity flow system with two 1.2 million gallon welded steel storage tanks, and eleven pressure reducing stations, as the system flows down the valley.
The System also supplies limited rural fire protection through 111 fire hydrants, the hydrants are primarily used for flushing and water quality monitoring.
The system currently serves 1,370 connections. 19 are large 1" to 3" high consumption commercial taps, with the remaining 1,351-3/4" taps serving mostly residential homes and some small business / ag use. All service connections are metered at the property line. Master meter or “bulk rate” taps are allowed for Mobile home parks and apartment buildings, all other residential users must have a separate tap for each dwelling. All customers meters are read and billed monthly.
