2 days of water lost after vandals sabotage infrastructure
While the water in Northglenn may seem plentiful, every drop counts.
"The two days gone is just gone," Northglenn city spokesperson Diana Wilson said.
That was how long before their team noticed the water, they were supposed to be seeing come from Berthoud Pass wasn't where it should be.
On a trip into the mountains, they found gates that control the flow had been damaged.
"Somebody was actually removing part of the mechanisms to make it open and close and hard not to imagine that wasn't purposefully done when it was on all four of them," she said.
The damage will cost roughly $50,000 to fix, which is a drop in the bucket compared to the value of the water lost.
"Hundreds of thousands of dollars if not million so to us very precious," Wilson said.
And with that number comes a serious criminal offense.
"It's a theft in addition to the vandalism and criminal mischief issues that occurred up there on the pass," Grand County Sheriff Brett Schroetlin.
They're investigating what happened, while still working a similar case in the same area from 2019.
At that time, ecoterrorism was considered as a possible motive and could be again
"The focus was always diverting the water one way versus the other," Schroetlin said.
While the City of Northglenn says the loss will not impact customers in the way of water restrictions, but it does end up costing them.
"Making sure we get our share of water that we have purchased is a big deal to our community those are public funds that we use to secure that."
Northglenn says they are looking at what other security measures they can put in place.
As far as the investigation the Grand County sheriff says the public will be key, and is asking anyone with information to come forward.
Those with more information about the vandalism are asked to call the sheriff's office at 970-725-3343 or send an email to so_investigations@co.grand.co.us.
