Clifton Water District

What Clifton Water District does

Clifton Water District is a Special District formed on March 5, 1951 under the laws of the State of Colorado, operating as a regulated public water utility serving over 13,700 residential and commercial service accounts within a defined service area in Mesa County, Colorado. The territory is bounded on the east by 30 Road, on the west by 34 1/2 Road, on the south by the Colorado River, and on the north by I-70, sitting between the City of Grand Junction and the Town of Palisade. The district owns and operates the underlying water treatment and distribution infrastructure, providing safe drinking water, emergency response (24/7), cross-connection and backflow prevention programs, lead service line inventory tracking, and Consumer Confidence Reports in line with EPA requirements. Customer-facing services include an online bill payment platform via Invoice Cloud (supporting credit/debit cards, ACH/eCheck, PayPal, Venmo, Google Pay, and Apple Pay), an IVR pay-by-phone option, three physical payment drop boxes, and in-person customer service Monday through Friday at the 510 34 Road office in Clifton.

The district's revenue is generated primarily through recurring monthly usage-based water service fees billed to residential and commercial customers, with rates and fees adopted annually by Board resolution. Tiered drought rates were adopted effective June 1, 2026 to support conservation during substantial drought conditions. Ancillary revenue streams include new construction tap and connection fees, Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU) water service connections, and a Fill Station service for bulk water tank fills. Public-facing communications are delivered through the Streamline-powered website, email newsletters, public board meetings held on the second Thursday of each month, and conservation education programs such as DRIP (Drought Response Information Project) and the Grand Valley Regional Water Conservation initiative.

The district is governed by an elected Board of Directors (five board members including a Board President) and operated by district staff including a District Contact (Ty Jones) and an HR Director (Jennifer Pettingill). It is not privately owned — there is no parent company, no subsidiaries, no private equity or venture capital exposure, and no public ticker. The entity is classified as a government_state_entity domiciled in Colorado, USA, and is not subject to traditional PE/VC/M&A investment mechanics; strategic value derives from the regulated, government-granted service territory and the owned water infrastructure rather than from software, IP, or growth-stage commercial dynamics.

Name

Clifton Water District

Legal name

Clifton Water District

Website

https://cliftonwaterdistrict.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1951

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Clifton Water District is a Colorado Special District providing regulated water service to over 13,700 residential and commercial accounts in a defined Mesa County service area between Grand Junction and Palisade, governed by an elected Board and funded through monthly usage-based fees.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Water Utility Services

NAICS

Water Supply and Irrigation Systems (22131), Water, Sewage and Other Systems (2213)

SIC

Water Supply (4941)

akta.pro primary industry

Customer Metering, Billing & Retail Water Services (EUANAAAH)

Keywords

• Water utility services
• Municipal water supply
• Drought management programs
• Water quality reporting
• Utility bill payment

Headquarters

HQ city

Clifton

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Infrastructure, Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Others

Revenue model

1. Water Service Fees: Recurring water service fees charged to residential and commercial customers based on water consumption and applicable tiered rates, including drought emergency rates when in effect. Revenue is generated through monthly billing to over 13,700 service accounts.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Clifton Water District provides treated potable water distribution to residential and commercial customers within an exclusive service territory in Mesa County, Colorado, serving over 13,700 service accounts. Its core offerings include standard metered water service with usage-based and tiered rates (including drought emergency rates), new water service/ADU connections, fill station access, water quality reporting (Consumer Confidence Reports), and drought response and conservation programs. The district is governed by an elected Board of Directors and operates under Colorado Special District law.

Product overview

Clifton Water District operates as a Special District providing water utility services through a unified platform. The district serves over 13,700 residential and commercial units in Mesa County, Colorado with core water distribution services. The product portfolio includes the core Water Utility Service, Online Bill Payment system (via InvoiceCloud), Board Meeting Portal for governance transparency, Drought Response Services with conservation programs, Fill Station Service for alternative water access, New Water Services for construction connections, Lead Service Line Inventory tracking, and Consumer Confidence Reports for water quality transparency. The district uses Streamline technology platform for its website operations.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Water Utility Service

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration1 record

Feature1 record

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Liberty Utilities: Multi-utility holding company providing regulated water service across multiple U.S. states, including Colorado and the broader Southwest. Comparable on regulated water-delivery model and Colorado River system exposure, though operating as a broader multi-jurisdictional utility.
• EPCOR: Multi-jurisdictional North American water and wastewater utility with regulated and contract operations across the U.S. Southwest and Canada. Comparable on the regulated water-utility business model, but materially larger and broader than Clifton Water District.
• American Water Works: Largest publicly traded U.S. water and wastewater utility, serving over 14 million people across 14 states. Comparable on regulated rate-base water-utility economics, though materially larger and geographically diversified relative to Clifton Water District.

Regional players

• SJW Group: Holding company for San Jose Water and Connecticut Water, regulated water utilities serving customers in different geographies than Clifton. Comparable as a regulated water utility business, though geographically distant.
• Middlesex Water Company: New Jersey-based regulated water utility serving residential and commercial customers under a similar tariff-based rate structure. Comparable on small/mid-size regulated water-utility economics, but operating on the East Coast rather than the Colorado River basin.
• California Water Service: California-regulated water utility operating under a similar cost-of-service rate-setting model. Comparable on regulated water-utility dynamics and drought-rate exposure, though operating in California rather than Colorado.

Direct peers

• City of Grand Junction Water: Municipal water utility operated by the City of Grand Junction, immediately adjacent to Clifton Water District's service area. Directly comparable as a neighboring Colorado municipal water provider serving overlapping Mesa County customers under similar regulatory conditions.
• Aurora Water: City of Aurora, Colorado water utility serving a comparable residential/commercial base. Directly comparable on water-rate-setting model, water-treatment operations, and Colorado River basin reliance.
• Colorado Springs Utilities: Multi-utility (water, wastewater, electric, gas) provider in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Comparable on regulated utility framework, rate-setting, and Colorado-specific water-supply dynamics, though materially larger and broader in scope than Clifton.
• Denver Water: Largest water utility in Colorado, serving the Denver metropolitan area under a similar regulated utility model. Directly comparable on regulatory framework, customer-base size considerations (though Denver Water is materially larger), and rate-setting under Colorado special-district and municipal utility law.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights5 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/CliftonWaterDistrict
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/clifton-water-district

Compliance2 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles7 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Clifton Water District