[HollyMutual-Announce] WARNING Denver Watering Restrictions

[Mark Derbyshire]

All:

I received the following from our distributor relations representative at Denver Water:

*I have confirmed notes have been put in each account about the irrigation usage and this will hopefully resolve any watering violations they may have.*

Optimistically this should allow us to use Holly Mutual water for irrigation during periods when Denver Water irrigation is disallowed. At least it should represent a "Get Out of Jail Free" card.

Denver Water was provided with the addresses of the 48 properties comprising the Holly Mutual service area, which also identified the specific two days per week each property is authorized to use Holly Mutual water. If you use Holly Mutual water, make sure you only use it on the two days that are listed for your property at:

http://www.hollymutual.com/WateringSchedule.pdf

Any use of Holly Mutual water on non-authorized days will risk Denver Water warnings and fines.

It should go without saying that this irrigation exception only applies to the use of Holly Mutual water. Any use of Denver Water for irrigation is still subject to all Denver Water restrictions. Be aware that Denver Water has electronically accessible water meters and is able to deduce when you are using their water for irrigation.

Cheers,

Mark

On 10/6/26 12:16, Mark Derbyshire wrote:
>
> All:
>
> For over a week I have been trying to get confirmation from Denver Water that Holly Mutual users can continue to use HM water for irrigation. Most of my communication efforts were focused on HM's distributor relations representative, who has typically been efficient and helpful. However all of my telephone calls and emails have gone unanswered.
>
> Given that, last week I wrote a separate email to Denver Water as a customer. Their reply just arrived and was completely frustrating:
>
> /*This year, the water board of commissioners decided that if you have a Denver Water tap, you must follow Denver Water’s drought restrictions, even if your irrigation water comes from a well.*/
>
> On the surface I'm assuming this is simply an uninformed representative who knows nothing about total service water distributors, like HM. In multiple respects this is nonsense, including (1) Denver Water lacks the authority to set Holly Mutual policy, and (2) the way HM has to run its wells (2 assigned days out of 7) is incompatible with Denver Waters' method of assigning watering days. I have made fresh calls to our representative, which of course were not answered. Thus I am again back to waiting for a call back.
>
> Unfortunately, while HM tries to sort this out with Denver Water, I can only recommend that all HM users cease using HM water for irrigation.
>
> Sorry,
>
> Mark
>
>
> On 9/23/26 09:07, Holly Mutual Water Company wrote:
>> All:
>>
>> As you may be aware, Denver Water will be prohibiting lawn watering starting October 1. This does not apply to Holly Mutual water usage. We plan to continue providing Holly Mutual water until October 31.
>>
>> This year has been a very mixed bag for Holly Mutual. We sadly lost our long-standing maintenance person, Dave Bomhoff, just as our wells were being activated in the spring. Colorado Water Well (CWW) wasn't prepared for that, and we further suffered another Whitehall Well pit flood when its sump pump failed. Fortunately Dave had moved most of the Whitehall equipment above ground following the previous flood, so the damage this time was limited. After the Whitehall Well repairs were completed, that well has been working solidly ever since.
>>
>> During Whitehall's limited availability over the previous 2+ years, we were forced to rely primarily on the Piedmont Well. It wasn't surprising that Piedmont's water production began to suffer towards the end of the 2025 season, and we idled it early. However this year its production continued to slip, and in August CWW confirmed our suspicions that the pipe leading up from the Piedmont well pump was perforated, and water was flowing back down the shaft. Piedmont has since been idled. We are waiting for CWW to pull its pump, replace the pipe, and perform other maintenance.
>>
>> With only one well available for most of this season, we broke from the past and limited our distribution times to provide consistent water. Previously we had simply allowed the well storage tank to run dry each day, which resulted in unpredictable water distribution time periods. With the depletion of the aquifer that our wells use, each year means a little less production, and there is not much we can do about it.
>>
>> However we are taking steps to improve our service, particularly getting Piedmont running again, which could conceivably double our distribution time. We also believe we are on the cusp of a breakthrough. In the past we could only distribute from one well at a time, that is Whitehall would distribute for two hours, then Piedmont would distribute for two hours, etc. The major downside was we couldn't run both well distribution pumps at the same time, which resulted in lower water pressure during high water demand. We have been working out the technical kinks involved with running the distribution pumps in parallel, and for a few days in August, both wells successfully worked together, providing measurably higher water pressure. There is more tweaking ahead, but we believe we are on the right track. Separately we are also planning to reconnect the broken leg in our distribution loop, which should improve water pressure for those of us in the northwest portion of our service 
>> area.
>>
>> In other news, the Holly Mutual Board further clarified our policy regarding past due accounts. Our previous accountant followed procedures known only to him, which included late fees, filing of liens, and service cutoffs. Since we switched accountants a number of years ago, those processes disappeared. Last year the Board instituted a 5% late fee for every quarterly billing period, when there is a past due amount on an account. Effective immediately, the Board has instructed our accountant to flag any account carrying an unpaid balance for six or more months. She will send a notice to such account holder(s) requesting payment in full within 15 days. If this is not paid, Holly Mutual will file a lien against the property, and the account will be further charged with those filing costs. We're hoping we'll never have to go this far or further, but if necessary the Board could consider other collection avenues. Thanks to almost everyone who pays their invoices promptly.
>>
>> Cheers,
>>
>> Mark
>>