“ESCO? No, I Said I Needed a Rescue!” Coping With the Colorado 1,000-Year Storm of 2013

Wastewater utility systems regularly prepare for the unexpected. Leadership needs to identify alternate scenarios and balance thoughtful planning and investment. There are limits to what can be imagined, however, and the Town of Lyons could hardly predict that they would be hit by a sudden (and extended) storm that was characterized as a 1,000-year flooding event. Luckily for the town, they were in the process of upgrading their water resource recovery facility (WRRF) with an energy services company (ESCO), who happened to have a local representative. While the rain and flooding wreaked havoc with the expected project timetable and execution plan, the relationship that had been established between the town, the ESCO, and their engineering consultant allowed for quick response and recovery. This paper will describe the background of the project, including the WRRF situation, and elaborate on the cooperative efforts of the parties involved to overcome the catastrophic situation that the storm played on the town and its wastewater utility.