Dear New Resident,
The Forest Lakes Metropolitan District welcomes you to the community. Our district provides water and wastewater service for the three Pinon Pines Metropolitan Districts. We currently provide water service from two Denver Basin wells and a well-head treatment plant, and from Bristlecone Reservoir and the surface water treatment plant. We jointly own a wastewater treatment plant with Triview Metropolitan District and Donala Water and Sanitation District – the Upper Monument Creek Regional Wastewater Treatment Facility. That plant is closely monitored by the Colorado Department of Public Health & Environment and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The district is a political subdivision of the State of Colorado and is governed by an elected board of directors. The Pinon Pines Metropolitan Districts are also public entities with elected boards of directors.
Contract Operator:
Forest Lakes Metropolitan District has contracted with Triview Metropolitan District to operate its water and wastewater system, to provide meter reading and billing services, and to provide all landscaping services for the district. It is therefore likely that many of your interactions with the district will be with personnel from Triview Metropolitan District. They can be reached at 719-488-6868.
Residential Water and Sewer Service Fees:
- Water: There is a monthly customer charge of $12.82 and a volume charge of $5.77 per thousand gallons of metered water used.
- Sewer: Customers are charged $48.02 per month, billed in conjunction with water.
- Landscaping Maintenance: There is a monthly customer charge of $15.00.
- Billing will be on a monthly basis. Water meters are usually read the last working day of each month and you should receive a bill the first week of each month. If you don’t receive your bill, please call the contract operator, Triview Metropolitan District at 719-488-6868. Full payment is due on the 20th of each month.
- Due to Colorado Statute 24-72-204, personal financial information of customers can only be provided to a person of interest. Water and sewer bill information is classified as personal financial information. Therefore, when you signed up for service you were asked who would be authorized to receive such information as a person of interest. If there is not a specific contact listed, we use the name passed to us by the closing company or builder. Should any addition or deletion of “persons of interest” be requested, a letter signed by all parties will be required. Tenants should be aware that owners of the property and property managers are authorized persons of interest at all times.
- We invite you to take advantage of our one-time payment and automatic payment withdrawal options. Simply go to the Triview Metropolitan District website (triviewmetro.com) and follow the “pay my bill” button called Forest Lakes, for one-time payment of an invoice or to set up automatic withdrawal payments. Please contact American Conservation and Billing Solutions billing department if you need assistance at 877-410-0167, Ext. 2 or email at clientcare@amcobi.com. This should eliminate late payments or disconnect notices. You will continue to receive a statement with monthly charges.
- Payments may be mailed to the contract operator, AMCOBI (American Conservation and Billing Solutions)
at: P.O. Box 51280, Colorado Springs, CO 80949-1280. - If you plan on renting the property, we encourage you to keep a large enough deposit to pay a final water/sewer bill. Although we will make every attempt to collect from the tenant, the ultimate responsibility for the payment lies with the property owner. If necessary, we will terminate water service before a new tenant moves in, and/or place a lien on the property.
Other Pertinent Information:
- Each home in the district is required to have an operating water meter and a backflow prevention device. The district replaces meters on a 10-year cycle at no charge to the customer. We must have access to the property to perform the work. We read meters from an internet application.
- In case a water meter malfunctions or fails to register, the customer will be charged the average consumption during the two proceeding periods. The district will repair or replace the defective meters free of charge (unless still under warranty with builder/contractor or if there is obvious tampering).
- If you experience water pressure problems, the culprit is most likely the pressure regulator valve (PRV) in your house. It is a conical shaped device and hopefully it is near and upstream of the inside meter. If not, and you experience a leak at the meter, it’s usually because the meter is not built to withstand the high pressure delivered to the house. The pressure regulator is designed to regulate at about 55 pounds per square inch (PSI). This is usually adequate for most homes, and much more than that could lead to problems in your hot water heater and dishwasher. Many homeowners have two regulators installed, and we highly recommend it. The first regulator should be upstream (before) the meter and serves to protect the meter should there be any sudden fluctuations in the system pressure. If you have two regulators, the second one is probably downstream of the off-shoot to your irrigation system. This allows you to turn up the pressure a little to your irrigation system (first regulator) and still have the 55 PSI protection (from the second regulator) to your internal plumbing. We caution that the first regulator should not be turned up so high that the meter starts to leak; we recommend no higher than 75 PSI.
- You should know where your water valve box is and make sure that it is accessible. This is especially important in a new house. Often the excavator who does the finished grade on the yard covers the box. This is a 4-inch diameter pipe with an iron lid on it that provides accessibility to the curb stop valve that controls your water. If there is ever a break or a leak in your lines (usually, at the foundation) this valve is the only way to turn off the water. Usually, if such a leak occurs, it will be during the first winter after the house is built. (While water is pouring into your basement with frozen ground is not the time to be digging for the valve box!) Please be sure your builder shows you where it is and keep it accessible. Most valve boxes are within 10 feet of the curb in the front yard, and they should be flush with a low-cut lawn (so as not to interfere with your lawnmower). We have a diagram of most service line locations on each lot. If you need help in locating the box, please call us.
- Our water is relatively hard, which means it has calcium. Extreme heat will bring calcium out of solution, and you may find deposits on your faucets. This build-up could actually cause a perceived drop in pressure as the water is restricted. We normally see this in homes with hot tubs or newer “super-hot” water heaters. If you can, turn the temperature down. If you like your water very hot, you might want to invest in a water softener.
Should you have any questions or problems, don’t hesitate to call 719-327-5810; we are here to serve you.
Sincerely,
Ann Nichols, District Manager
719-327-5810
anicholsduffy@aol.com
Revised 11-2022