As the demand for drinking water in Colorado continues to rise, a Northern Colorado community is planning to increase the price of its water and sewage services by 26% in 2026. 

The town of Windsor, a rapidly growing community of more than 45,000 residents, plans to start increasing its prices in April of next year.

Town Manager Shane Hale told CBS Colorado the town and council had no other option but to rapidly increase their prices. He attributed it to a need for more services while also improving existing ones.

“We certainly are (aware of the sticker shock),” Hale said. “The town board lives in town. They are going to see these costs as well.”

Hale said the town needs to replace an aging infrastructure for their water distribution.

“We had a major distribution line for water that broke a couple times last year,” Hale said.

Also, to meet growth demand and EPA standards, the town also needs to completely replace its existing sewar treatment plant in the southeast corner of the community.

“We are not just building an expansion,” Hale said. “We have to build a brand-new plant.

Windsor originally hoped to build the new plant in 2020. Hale said, if they would have been able to do so, it would have cost around $50 million to complete.

However, since then, the cost of labor and supplies has inflated so significantly that the price for the same plant is projected to be three times more expensive than planned for.

CBS Colorado asked Hale why the town didn’t slowly increase rates over the years instead of completing one drastic spike of 26% in 2026.

“That is a great question. I will tell you we have been gradually increasing our rates each year,” Hale said. “The challenge that we had, especially on the sewer side, were our costs were increased by three times.”

In order to lower the price tag, the town has also reduced the size of the plant it’s going to build. Hale said the current plant can operate 2.8 million gallons of water per day. They hoped to build one that could accommodate 6.3 million gallons per day. However, to offset costs some while also meeting demand of the growing town, they now plan to build a plant that can manage 4.2 million gallons a day.

Hale said the town is at the mercy of the cost of construction and the price of getting machinery into their possession. He also said many of the items they need are only made internationally, meaning they are in line with others to get the product without much room for negotiation.

“Unfortunately, in order to manage our infrastructure and maintain it, the town doesn’t really have a choice,” Hale said.

Hale said the increased prices should be reflected in bills that arrive for residents in March of 2026. Not all residents will be impacted the same, as some are served water by other water providers.

Hale believes, if it weren’t for inflation, the town would not have increased the price of sewage treatment or water distribution in 2026.

From cars, to busses, to the new rail and even up in the sky, transportation is what keeps us moving.

So how will Hawaii keep moving on cleaner pathways to meet our state’s clean energy goals?

KHON2’s Empowered franchise is committed to providing information to keep people informed on sustainability issues in Hawaii. 

Joining KHON’s Gina Mangieri to talk about how we keep moving on cleaner pathways:

• Kathleen Rooney, Ulupono Initiative Director of Transportation Policy and Programs
• Roger Morton, Director of the Honolulu Department of Transportation Services
• Nahelani Parsons, Hawaii Renewable Fuels Coalition