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THE de HAAS SAGA
By Marie Zanowick, Director, Pine Brook Water District
On August 23, 1966, the deHaas family (Thijs, Trudy and
three small children, one of whom was Bob) moved into Pine Brook Hills. They
learned that the Water District had a $30,000 debt and problems in supplying
water to the homes. With Thijs out of town on a business trip, Trudy decided to
attend a Water Board meeting at Ernie Smith’s house. She was the only guest.
After the meeting Fred Dolder called and asked if she was
busy and could she volunteer with the District? Not knowing anything about water
systems, she volunteered to help in any way that she could, and worked as the
volunteer manager of the District for the next 11 years.
When Thijs returned from business trips, he spent evening
and weekends repairing the faulty water distribution system. Bob joined in as a
volunteer, even as a child. For example, there was a leak near a water tank that
was not accessible by vehicle, so Trudy, Thijs and Bob (age 12) spent a day
digging a trench by hand to find and repair the leak – all volunteer labor.
In 1977 the board approved a salary of $100 a month for
Trudy.
When Trudy divorced Thijs she requested a “living wage”
and received a full-time salary from the board, for the first time.
In l988 Bob deHaas began working for the district as
Trudy’s assistant. In 1989 Bob became the next manager of the Water District and
has remained manager since then.
Some of Bob’s contributions since he became manager
include:
·
Forming a partnership with the City of Boulder on the
large storage tank located north of North Cedar Brook Road. Through this
partnership the district received 600,000 gallons of clean water storage for
just $20,000!
·
Upgrading of all the pumping stations in the District
·
Design and construction of the water treatment plant
in Sunshine Canyon
·
In 1999 Bob received an Environmental Achievement
Award from U.S. EPA
·
Bob is heavily involved in the construction of the
new dam and reservoir.
Because of the de Haas family’s leadership and dedication to
the Water District, Pine Brook Hills is a sought-out mountain community with a
good reputation. Imagine how valuable our community would be without adequate,
high quality water and fire protection!
At the last HOA meeting, the following motion was made: “In
recognition of their selfless dedication to providing a safe, clean and adequate
water supply to the Pine Brook Community for over 40 years, the Pine Brook
Community recommends to the Water District that they name the dam the “de Haas
Dam.” This motion, which was favorably received by those at the January meeting,
will be confirmed at the April meeting.
(Note: the reservoir is already named the Pine Brook
Reservoir)
from the Spring 2006 issue of the PB Press |
