STERLING, Colo. — Just west of Sterling, Colorado, the Sage Pointe neighborhood is in crisis.
Families say their private water and sewer system is failing, and they are being asked to foot a skyrocketing bill.
“There’s roughly 90 plus homes here,” Jason Sanders told Denver7 Investigates. “We had no awareness of it, no disclosure of it, but now we’re having to front the bill.”
Sanders said his family was never informed that the community operates on its own well water and septic system when he purchased his home in 2023. That system is currently under a state cease-and-desist order due to past code violations.
Heather Gage, secretary for both the Sage Pointe HOA and the Sage Pointe Metropolitan District board, said the original wastewater treatment plant didn’t meet code and was shut down last year after the order came.
“When the cease-and-desist happened, we shut down the old system and brought in a temporary treatment plant," she said. "We’re meeting compliance better than we have in 20 years."
The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) has allowed the rented system to stay in use while the board works on a long‑term fix, but that temporary solution is expensive. Residents’ combined water and sewer rates jumped last year from $200 to $400 a month. The board is set to approve another rate increase during a meeting Tuesday night.
“We don’t know what that rate’s going to be until the meeting tonight… unfortunately, the wastewater system is ours,” Gage said. “It breaks my heart, to be honest with you, because I know that there are some members of our community that are not going to be able to afford the rates that we’re looking at to keep the wastewater treatment facility operating.”
Some residents hope annexation into the City of Sterling could be the answer. City Manager John Sheldon told Denver7 there has never been a formal request to join the city, but the topic is now being explored.
"I have been recently contacted by them and have a meeting scheduled to commence discussions,” said Sheldon.
In 2024, Sage Pointe’s HOA inquired about connecting to the city sewer system — a step that could lead to future annexation. In its written response, the city stated that it could be possible, but only if homeowners paid for the building and maintenance of the line, met all water quality requirements, and signed an agreement granting the city the unilateral right to annex when eligible.
Meanwhile, Sanders said without relief from the state, Logan County, or the City of Sterling, foreclosure could be the only outcome for many who call the neighborhood home.
“Trying to get blood out of a turnip doesn’t really work in this scenario, and that’s unfortunately all they’re pushing on us," said Sanders. "So foreclosure is the only other option.”
Neighbors agreed that Sage Pointe’s struggle is a microcosm of the issues facing rural Colorado, where small communities face the exact infrastructure costs as large cities but with far fewer ratepayers to share them.
“Infrastructure is really expensive," Gage said. "I think it needs to be addressed on a larger scale governmentally if rural areas want a fighting chance."
