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HB26-1145 strengthens Colorado’s water quality laws within mobile home parks
DENVER, CO – The House today passed legislation to improve water quality standards in mobile home parks. HB26-1145, sponsored by Representatives Elizabeth Velasco and Jacque Phillips, passed by a vote of 42-22.
“Every Coloradan deserves access to clean water,” said Rep. Elizabeth Velasco, D-Glenwood Springs. “In 2023, I proudly passed a law that strengthened protections for mobile home park residents to improve water quality. This bill would expand on that law to help homeowners address water quality that is still contaminated enough to impact their welfare. The bill would also crack down on non-compliance and notification requirements to better address water quality issues in mobile home parks.”
“Mobile homes are a great source of affordable housing, and it is important that people who typically do not have access to legal resources have a clear path to fix water quality issues,” said Rep. Jacque Phillips, D-Thornton. “No one should be expected to cook with, drink or bathe in water that is brown and has an odor, yet that is the unfortunate reality that some mobile home residents live with. This bill helps ensure that water quality issues that risk resident welfare are also addressed to guarantee that mobile home park residents also have access to safe water.”
HB26-1145 would strengthen water quality protections for Coloradans in mobile home parks. The bill expands the definition of “remediation” to include risks to welfare, which is defined as water quality that is not suitable for drinking, cooking, bathing, washing clothes, using with home appliances and other household uses. Negative impacts on the finances of the household are also considered a risk to welfare.
The bill would authorize the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) to enforce the requirement for mobile home park owners to notify residents of water quality test results without a complaint being filed first.
In 2023, Rep. Velasco created the Mobile Home Park Water Quality Program to address water quality concerns in mobile home parks by establishing a water quality testing program and creating a path to remediation for mobile park owners to fix water quality issues discovered through the testing program.
A 2022 study by the Colorado Latino Policy Agenda found that 30-percent of Latino Coloradans do not trust or drink the water in their homes, but that number rises to 40-percent with Latino mobile home residents.