Salida: New wastewater treatment plant in production

From The Mountain Mail (Casey Kelly):

Though improvements to the new Salida Wastewater Treatment Facility will not be fully completed for another couple of months, the city has begun treating wastewater at the new plant. The new facility began treating city water in November, and since then the city has been working to finish remaining improvements at the facility, Wastewater Plant Manager Randy Sack said Friday. Remaining improvements at the facility, which Sack said should be completed in the next “couple months,” include work on landscaping, the driveway, curb and gutter, phone and data lines, and painting.

Moltz Construction has been working on the new facility for the past 13 months, Sack said. “It’s working really nice,” he said. “It’s a little bigger. It’s doing a great job with the things we need it to do.”

Sack also said the new plant is all computerized, which allows easier monitoring of its operations. The previous plant was no longer meeting regulations for wastewater plants, City Administrator Dara MacDonald said. The plant was out of compliance with regard to levels of ammonia and biochemical oxygen demands, which Sack said “measure the organic strength of the wastewater.”

Sack said once the final improvements are made to the facility, the city plans to host an open house to invite the public to tour the new facility.

Sidebar on financials

The total cost of the Wastewater Treatment Facility upgrade project is $17.6 million. The project is being financed through a $12.1 million loan from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, a $1.35 million Department of Local Affair grant (with matching funds from the city) and a $2.6 million USDA loan the city received in 2009. The city will make its first payment on the $12.1 million loan in fall. The term of the loan is 40 years with an interest rate of 2.5 percent. At the time financing was originally approved, the interest rate was set at either 3.25 percent or the rate in effect at the time of the loan’s closing, whichever was lower. When the loan closed in February, the city secured the lower 2.5 percent interest rate. The city is required to make a minimum payment of $480,405 each year, but can make higher payments to lower the amount of total interest paid over the life of the loan. If the city makes only the minimum payments, it will pay $7.1 million in interest over the life of the loan.City Finance Director Jan Schmidt suggested at a February city council meeting that the city make payments that assumed the previous higher interest rate, which would have the city paying off the loan 8 months earlier and paying less money in interest.

City Administrator Dara MacDonald said when the city adjusted sewer rates, it was done in anticipation of the facility upgrade and the debt service that would come along with it. MacDonald said revenue from the city’s sewer enterprise fund is projected to cover the cost of the annual payments, along with the plant’s operation and annual maintenance costs.

Total 2012 revenues for the sewer fund came in at $1,444,641, and total expenditures, which included capital outlay costs for the facility’s construction this year, came in at $8,978,716. Excluding the one-time capital outlay costs this year, the sewer fund had $748,933 in expenditures, which would have resulted in net revenues of $695,708, enough to exceed the cost of the minimum annual loan payment.

More wastewater coverage here and here.

Water reuse in oil and gas operations is an expensive undertaking

From The Denver Post (Bruce Finley):

While Colorado’s drilling boom produces record amounts of gas and oil, the multiplying wells also are bringing up far greater quantities of a salty, toxic liquid waste — 15 billion gallons a year. If cleaned properly, all that liquid could become safe water to restore rivers, irrigate food crops and sustain communities in an era of drought and declining water supplies. Or at least it could be reused by oil and gas companies to reduce their draw of fresh water from farmers and cities. “You could use that water for anything,” said Steve Gunderson, water quality control director for the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. “We’ve got to do our best to make sure we protect our environment. In a state like Colorado, water is our future.”

But Colorado leaders have no policy for reusing oil and gas industry waste. More than half is injected untreated into super-deep wells — filling rocky voids from which oil and gas was extracted. Other waste is dumped in shallow pits, stored in evaporative ponds or discharged after partial treatment under state permits into waterways. Technology exists to clean liquid waste right up to drinking water standards, but it’s expensive, about three times as costly as buying fresh water for drilling and fracking, which runs about 17 cents a barrel, and burying waste untreated for about 70 cents per barrel…

Some companies, such as Encana, treat liquid waste to the point at which it can be reused for fracking more wells. They remove fracking gel and microbes, yet the liquid stays too toxic and salty to irrigate crops. Modern treatment methods — used in Wyoming and other states where geology does not allow safe burial — purify liquid waste so that water can be put back in rivers. This restores aquatic life and eventually helps fill drinking-water reservoirs…

High Sierra’s water-treatment plants near Front Range drilling fields use a combination of mechanical skimming, chemical reaction, reverse-osmosis filtering and biological treatment to transform truckloads of toxic black muck to crystal-clear water…

The Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, charged with both promoting and regulating the oil and gas industry, has issued 3,191 permits letting companies dispose of liquid waste in evaporative ponds, shallow pits and 300 super-deep injection wells. Disposal in pits and ponds can lead to toxic emissions and contamination of groundwater. Hundreds of the pits in eastern Colorado are unlined, pre-dating rules implemented in 2009. Even under those rules, operators can seek variances that let them avoid installing liners. And companies operating in Washington, Yuma, Logan and Morgan counties have until May 1 before new pits must be lined.

The liquid waste comes from drilling boreholes at oil and gas wells. First, drillers inject about 300,000 gallons of fresh water. Then frackers inject 1 million to 5 million more gallons, mixed with sand and fracking fluids, to loosen oil and gas in shale rock. This all blends with briny underground pools that are often saltier than seawater and laced with metals…

Spills can be devastating — as seen along Colorado’s once-pristine Spring Creek, a tributary of the North Platte River in a wildlife-rich area near Walden, west of Fort Collins. For more than a decade, Englewood-based Lone Pine Gas has been allowed to discharge hundreds of thousands of gallons of what is supposed to be treated liquid waste into the creek under a CDPHE permit. State permits specify the levels of various metals, oil and grease, salts and chemicals that must be removed before discharging waste into surface waterways. But discharges by Lone Pine have degraded Spring Creek to the point that, according to a recent EPA emergency response assessment, aquatic life is impaired. Last April and August, EPA crews found oil-contaminated soil heaped in open, unlined piles and cattle drinking oily water from waste ponds. Lone Pine spilled oil into the creek in 2006 and in 2011 — material that blackened and poisoned creek beds, according to state and federal records. As recently as 2010, CDPHE officials renewed Lone Pine’s discharge permit without review, records show. Now state water-quality officials are suing the company and say they will toughen enforcement under a compliance plan backed by court order…

Today in Colorado, 51 percent of the 326 million to 398 million barrels a year of the oil and gas industry’s liquid waste is injected deep underground, state officials said in responses to Denver Post queries. Another 12 percent is discharged into creeks and rivers — about 1.6 billion gallons a year — under 23 CDPHE permits…

Most fracking now is done using recycled produced water, he said…

Industry leaders “are doing pilot projects right now that are protected by non-disclosure agreements” and investing in filtration technology, Ludlam said. “There’s a lot going on behind the scenes.”

More oil and gas coverage here and here.

The price tag for Sterling’s deep injection wells for RO brine escalates from $80,000 to $2.3 million

From the Sterling Journal-Advocate (David Martinez):

[Sterling Public Works Director Jim Allen] told the council that Public Works was working on a number of water and sewage issues around the city – most of them directly or indirectly related to construction of the new water treatment plant.

The one that stands out: Deep injection wells used to pump the treated wastewater from the reverse osmosis filtration, estimated to cost $80,000 at the start of the project, will now cost about $2.3 million, according to a March 10 estimate. About $1.3 million of that cost would go toward the construction of one of the two pumps, which is located above the railroad tracks north of the plant…

The wells themselves, buried about 7,000 feet underground, have already been constructed. They were included in one of three bid packages for the project – the other two being a pipeline project and the water treatment plant itself, which is in the final construction stages.

Allen told the council the increased cost comes from the pumping equipment needed, as well as some stainless steel piping needed for the aboveground operation. The pipes might need to handle 2,200 to 2,600 pounds of pressure per square inch, which Allen said is a “monumental number.”[...]

Allen told the Journal-Advocate the $2.4 million also isn’t set in stone; he, Kiolbasa and others will be working with the estimates for a more solid cost…

In related projects concerning the plant, Public Works is continuing to redrill and rehabilitate the city’s raw water wells. The effort is part of a plan to have enough raw water to actually put through to the water treatment plant.

In February the council heard that the plant planned on having the ability to pump more than 7,900 gallons of water per minute, but that it could only pump about 5,500 gallons at that point because of degraded wells.

More infrastructure coverage here.

2013 Colorado legislation (HR13-1044): ‘Perhaps a gray future is not such a bad thing, after all’ — Anna Mitchell #coleg

From The Rocky Mountain Collegian (Anna Mitchell):

I do not live in a country where safe drinking water is difficult to come by. Not only is my apartment’s water treated, but I have the means available to take my tap water and purify it further. We have so much clean water that it is used for things that purification is not even necessary for, such as flushing a toilet.

I am fortunate to have access to potable water on command. But that access could be unnecessarily excessive.

For water to be deemed potable, it must undergo an energy-consuming treatment to meet the Environmental Protection Agency’s standards of what is deemed safe to ingest, cook with, and bathe in. However, we use potable water for things like toilet flushing and irrigation despite there being no standards saying our toilet water must be safe to drink.

Greywater, or wastewater that consists of low levels of organic waste, is what drains from bathroom sinks, showers, and washing machines. While graywater is not deemed safe for drinking, there does not seem to be any problems for uses like plant irrigation. Greywater also does not require the same energy-consuming treatment that potable water necessitates.

Water conservationists, led by state Rep. Randy Fischer, have proposed a bill that will recognize graywater systems as a legal process in regions that decide to permit it as such. The bill was recently endorsed by the Colorado Water Congress. While I find water rights to be one of the most infuriating legal institutions in existence, I overall applaud these efforts in sustainability…

My support comes with a few conditions. The amount of effluent, or pollutant run-off, must be kept absolutely minimal. We cannot be initiating sustainability efforts for environmental conservation at the cost of harming the environment in other ways.

There should be absolutely no health concerns that result from having graywater around. The practicality and costs of initiating a system that separates greywater from potable water and black water (water containing large amounts of organic waste, such as from kitchen sinks and flushed toilets) should also be taken into consideration…

Perhaps a gray future is not such a bad thing, after all.

Graywater bill passes House Ag unanimously. Failed on a party-line vote last year. #coleg

— Joe Hanel (@joehanel) January 28, 2013

More 2013 Colorado legislation coverage here. More graywater reclamation coverage here and here.

Complete rewrite of state regulations governing septic tanks/leach field systems in the works

From The Durango Herald (Dale Rodebaugh):

The state is going to scrap current regulations governing septic tanks/leach field systems and start anew, San Juan Basin Health Department board members were told Thursday. Greg Brand, the department’s newly hired director of environmental health, characterized the changes as sweeping. They will apply to all new dwellings not covered by a municipality or independent metro district, Brand said. The health department will have a year to bring its regulations into conformity. “My reading is that the new regulations will apply more to site evaluation – soil quality and size – than to installation,” Brand said. “Installers will be following a plan.”

Steve Gunderson, director of the Water Quality Control Division of the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, said by telephone that the new regulations will constitute a complete overhaul, a major revision. “We’ve been working on this for three years, with involvement of environmental health officials, health departments, developers and system installers,” Gunderson said.

“We were being hammered by local officials because current regulations are too rigid,” Gunderson said. “What applies in the Eastern Plains may not fit in the mountains.

More infrastructure coverage here.

2013 Colorado legislation (HB13-1044): Consumptive use challenge on the horizon if the bill passes?

From the Fort Collins Coloradoan (Patrick Malone):

Sometime in the next three to five weeks, with the flip of a single valve, toilet tanks in the residence hall will fill with recycled water, a testament to [researchers Larry] Roesner and [Sybil] Sharvelle’s work.

“We are very anxious for that first flush,” Roesner said. “We are ready to flush the toilet, but we’re taking some final tests to make sure it’s OK.”

The conversation around gray water in Colorado also faces a new test.

A gray water bill by state Rep. Randy Fischer, D-Fort Collins, has undergone some fine-tuning and appears poised to pass after a similar measure met swift defeat last year. This year’s incarnation faces its first hurdle Monday in the House Agriculture Committee that Fischer chairs.

Fischer’s bill would recognize gray water systems as legal in statute, enable regulation of them to protect public health and grant cities and counties discretion to permit them — or not, if they so choose…

“We can save about 50 percent of the indoor demand by using gray water for toilet flushing, and we can save about 30 percent of overall annual demand by gray-water reuse,” Roesner said. “A household of four could save 58,000 gallons a year using gray water, and a 40-home subdivision would save over 2 million gallons a year.”

“There are not many other conservation practices that would allow you to achieve those types of conservation benefits,” Fischer said.

But that wasn’t enough to get a proposal off the ground at the Legislature last year. In its first committee hearing, Republicans killed it on a party-line vote.

“It’s been interesting, because it seems like a relatively simple idea, yet it’s been so difficult to achieve in legislation,” Fischer said.

Opponents of last year’s version of the bill say concerns that proliferation of gray water systems would harm downstream water-rights holders — not partisan politics — torpedoed Fischer’s first bid.

“That has always been my concern, how it affects downstream water users,” said agriculturally-oriented Rep. Jerry Sonnenberg, R-Sterling.

Gray water in Ft Collins would result in illegal exp of the City’s early water rts, hurting area irrigation rts.noconow.co/14fJ0be

— Don Frick (@donfrick07) January 26, 2013

More 2013 Colorado legislation coverage here.

Grand Junction: Sanitary sewer rates are going up in 2013

From The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel (Duffy Hayes):

It’s been a few years since customers of the Persigo Wastewater Treatment Plant have seen their monthly bills rise, but plans for each of the next three years call for a boost in customer fees.

A budget adopted this week for 2013 includes a $2.02 rise for basic, minimal-use sewer and wastewater treatment service for Persigo customers, increasing the total monthly service to $17. According to the plan, rates are set to jump $2 in 2014 and $1.75 in 2015.

Mesa County commissioners, who have joint oversight over the wastewater plant with the Grand Junction City Council, heard a number of reasons for the planned rate increases.

Grand Junction City Services Manager Dan Tonello presented a budget for next year that includes a roughly 3 percent increase in operations expenses and a capital plan that is jumping from $2.29 million in 2012 to $4.22 million in 2013.

A big part of the additional expense is to replace aging infrastructure in the system’s collection network. Tonello said 217 miles of the roughly 500 miles of pipe in the system are at “life expectancy” and “beyond their design life.”

“We need to increase the frequency with which we are replacing that — or essentially, 10 or 20 years down the road, we could have a very old system in need of drastic repairs,” Tonello told county commissioners.

Persigo plans to hire two new full-time employees next year. One is expected to help maintain and repair the current system. Another is expected to help serve the Central Grand Valley Sanitation District, which Persigo now manages after a November vote that dissolved the special district.

Also, because there have been no rate increases during the recent economic downturn, Persigo fund balances have decreased, and Tonello said the rate increases will keep those balances above minimally acceptable levels.

Finally, regulations that will require new measurement of nutrients are looming. About $500,000 is being set aside next year to prepare for those regulations, and Persigo hopes to have $11 million collected by 2023 to comply with the new, as-of-yet unspecified standards.

“I’m not real happy about the increase in fees, but I do understand the challenges with capital and maintaining the infrastructure, and I do know that we have one of the smallest monthly fees compared to any other sewer funds,” Commissioner Janet Rowland said.

Despite the fee increases, Persigo customers still enjoy the lowest rates on the Western Slope for sewer service. Staff attribute the low fees to federal participation in Persigo’s construction in the 1980s and the lack of a debt payment for the plant.

Looking beyond 2015, the long-range budget projections show no increase in fees in 2016 and 2017, and 50-cent increases planned for 2018, 2019 and 2020. Tonello cautioned that these are very preliminary projections for these years and “when we actually get there, things could be very different.”

More infrastructure coverage here.

Thornton: Water and sewer rates to increase

From the Thornton Sentinel (Darin Moriki):

City Council unanimously approved a 3 percent water and 6 percent sewer rate increases Nov. 13. Thornton finance director Chuck Seest said both the sewer and water fees will flow into two designated sewer and water funds used to “maintain adequate cash reserves and debt service coverage based on expected future operating and capital costs.” In all, he said the water fund increase will generate about $1 million in additional revenue, while the sewer fund increase will generate an additional $500,000.

Seest said water rates are increased every two years in response to customer demands, regulatory requirements and inflationary costs. He said the looming increase is lower than the recent 4 percent inflation measurements taken over the past two years.

While the ordinance will allow for a 3 percent water rate increase next year, no rate increases are reflected for 2014. Seest said this adjustment will result in a slight average summer residential water bill increase from $50.01 to $51.49 and an average winter residential water bill increase from $19.59 to $20.17.

The second part of the ordinance, which calls for a 6 percent sewer rate increase and no rate increase for solid waste, was attributed to an 8 percent rate increase imposed by the Metro Wastewater Reclamation District for treatment services charged to the city. Seest explained these sewer rates are adjusted annually based on rate increases charged by the wastewater treatment facility. He said Metro Wastewater Reclamation District rate increases must be passed onto customers, because about 72 percent of the sewer fund’s operating costs is dedicated to paying these rates.

More infrastructure coverage here.

Durango is set to double sewer rates over 2013

From The Durango Herald (Jim Haug):

The plan is to double residential and commercial rates by the end of next year. Based on usage of 2,000 gallons of water, the monthly residential rate would double to $15.64 and the commercial rate would similarly increase to $21.84. Beginning in January 2013, consumers would have to pay for only a 50 percent increase because the full implementation of the rate increases would be delayed until December. So residential consumers in January would start out paying a fee of $11.75 while commercial consumers would pay $16.40 a month.

More Animas River Watershed coverage here.

The Brighton City Council green lights new Metro Wastewater treatment plant

From the Brighton Standard Blade (Crystal Nelson):

City Council voted unanimously Nov. 13 during a special meeting to approve on first reading a final plat and development agreement, as well as a condition of use agreement for the property. The final plat will create one large platted lot from the six existing non-platted parcels for the purpose of building the regional treatment facility on the 83-acre piece of property, located at the corner of US-85 and Weld County Road 2, according to Senior Planner Jason Bradford. He said it also includes additional right-of-way dedication for Baseline Road, a 22-foot-wide trail easement along the western and southern edges of the property, an easement for a city drainage channel in the southwest corner of the property and other easements for water meters, storm water and public infrastructure on the property…

A wastewater treatment plant is needed to support communities in the northern metropolitan region because existing facilities will soon reach capacity, according to the Metro Wastewater Reclamation District website. The Northern Treatment Plant will provide wastewater treatment for all or portions of the cities of Aurora, Brighton, Thornton, Denver and the South Adams County Water and Sanitation District.

“Construction will begin in December of this year. You probably won’t see too much activity this year,” said Northern Treatment Plant Project Delivery Manager Bill Brennan, adding the board will award a contract for construction in a week and that the plant is expected to become operational in 2016. According to Brennan, earthwork will take place from January through June, a berm will be constructed around Highway 85 in the spring, the administration building/visitors center will be constructed between July of 2013 and August of 2014, sidewalk and landscaping will be installed during 2015 and the facility is expected to open around June of 2016.

More wastewater coverage here.

Produced water from coalbed methane wells could be an adjunct to supplies according to oil company data

From The Pueblo Chieftain (Chris Woodka):

Hundreds of coal­bed methane wells in Las Animas County could produce water that could be used for other purposes in the Arkansas River basin, a study shows. A two­year waterquality monitoring program is showing the “produced water” — water that must be removed from coal seams to extract natural gas — is within limits for harmful contaminants like dissolved solids, conductivity, chloride, sodium, boron and iron, Julie Vlier, of Tetra Tech told the Arkansas Basin Roundtable Wednesday.

“Based on the collection data of the last two years, the quality is quite good,” Vlier said. “Concentrations in the Raton
Basin are lower.” The water ­quality question is important to companies like Pioneer Natural Resources and XTO Energy, which otherwise would have to spend more to inject the water back into the ground. The companies funded the study, which began in 2010. Pioneer alone has about 2,300 gas wells in the Raton Basin, said Jerry Jacob, environmental advisor for the company.

If the water can continue to flow freely into tributaries leading into the Purgatoire River west of Trinidad, it could increase the yield of existing water rights or even improve Colorado’s position in the Arkansas River Compact. Vlier also said the water could help in drought planning or fire mitigation.

The energy companies have state permits that would allow the release of up to 14,000 acre­feet — or 4.5 billion gallons — of water annually. Not all of it would likely reach the Purgatoire River, but it could be used to enhance existing water supplies.

Not everyone on the roundtable agreed with the rosy assessment for produced water.

“They’re taking water out of the same formation as Petroglyph,” said Al Tucker, a member of the Majors Ranch Environmental Committee, who represents Huerfano County on the roundtable. Landowners in Huerfano County say their wells were adversely affected during Petroglyph’s operations, which ended in 2011. In addition to contamination of groundwater, the company may have taken water out of priority, Tucker said.

“There are always bad actors,” Vlier told him.

More oil and gas coverage here and here.

Englewood/Littleton: Wastewater treatment plant upgrades to cost $15 million

From the Littleton Independent (Jennifer Smith):

Both city councils recently voted to raise customer fees starting in 2013 to cover the costs of construction, slated to begin in 2019.

There are two separate issues. First, the plant is subject to stricter nutrient-removal standards as of 2022; council members are quick to call them unfunded mandates from the state. In order to meet them, staff says design and permitting for the project needs to begin in 2017.

Second, a study showed the plant contributes about half of the phosphorous found in Barr Lake near Brighton and Milton Reservoir near Gilcrest, which causes algae blooms and other unpleasantness in the recreation areas. “The plant has a responsibility to downstream users,” Amy Conklin, coordinator for Barr Lake/Milton Reservoir Watershed Association, wrote on Oct. 28. “It matters how clean our effluent is because people downstream drink it.”

Centennial Water and Sanitation District, which serves Highlands Ranch and a small portion of unincorporated Douglas County, apparently is the reason for the other half. Its director, John Hendrick, urged Littleton and Englewood officials to work with him to get the standards relaxed. “We are going to take off the gloves, but we’re going to do it initially with a gentle, cooperative approach,” he said.

“This is a statewide issue, and we need some leadership down there at the Capitol to help us out.” Conklin agrees a collaborative approach is necessary, noting that half of Colorado residents live in the watershed.

“Gone are the simple days of environmental regulation,” she said. “But if Barr-Milton can pull it off, we may serve as a model of how to bring all sides of these expensive environmental solutions to the table and not to court.”

Plant manager Dennis Stowe said a statewide coalition against the regulations is currently inactive, reluctant to pursue expensive litigation. Gov. John Hickenlooper’s only input, said Stowe, has been to ask the Legislature to look more closely at the costs inflicted by the regulations. Engineer Sarah Reeves, a private consultant, said a potentially cost-reducing practice of nutrient trading — similar to cap and trade to regulate emissions — isn’t feasible, because there are no workable trading partners…

“When we get to discharging Perrier, is that going to be good enough?” asked Littleton Councilor Bruce Stahlman.

More wastewater coverage here and here.

Glenwood Springs is hosting tours of new $22.3 million wastewater treatment plant

Lucky Glenwood Springs residents. From the Glenwood Springs Post Independent (John Stroud):

The city is offering a series of public tours this week and next to show off the new, 1.9-million-gallon-per-day wastewater treatment plant located at the old Chatfield Ranch near the municipal operations center on Wulfsohn Road.

The $22.3 million treatment plant, lift station, sewer pipeline and related facilities have been under construction for the past two years and were completed this past summer. The new plant replaces the old facility near the confluence of the Roaring Fork and Colorado rivers on Seventh Street.

Three tours per day will continue on Thursday, and again on Oct. 30 and 31…

During the tour, Tipton describes the wastewater treatment process, from the collection center at the new lift station on Seventh Street, through three miles of pipeline along Midland Avenue to the treatment plant, and into a multi-stage treatment process. In the end, the more than 90 percent pure water is returned to the Colorado River.

In the laboratory near the end of the tour, the city’s longtime wastewater lab technician Lee Jones compares two beakers of water, one containing sewer water coming into the plant and the other containing the treated water that will go out of the plant into the river.

The latter is as clear as drinking water. In fact, recent readings at the plant indicate 99 percent removal of solids from the treated water.

To get to that stage, after being pumped from the lift station, the water first enters the plant’s headworks building. There, a grit sorter removes the larger sand and grit.

“We want to get as much of the grit out as fast as we can,” Tipton said. “Through this process, we will eliminate 80 to 90 percent of the larger material.”

This is also the most volatile stage of the process, as raw sewer water can produce large amounts of methane gas. The headworks building is “explosion proof,” meaning there are no exposed electrical outlets or other potential sources of ignition. Methane gas detectors and other safety devices will also shut the system down if dangerous levels are detected.

The air ionization system that controls the plant odors is also contained in the headworks building.

From there, it’s on to the oxidation ditches, or ponds, where oxygen is added to the partially desolidified wastewater. Large, submerged paddles in the 20-foot-deep pools keep the water churning constantly.

It’s also during this stage that ammonia and nitrogen are removed from the water. The water flow continues into the “secondary clarifier” ponds, where a rubber scraper continues to remove the remaining suspended solids, which are recirculated back through the system…

An operations lab includes a main computer monitoring station, where plant operators can observe the entire process from beginning to end and can remotely open and close valves and check meters.

Before going into the river, the treated water goes through a final ultraviolet disinfection system. Meanwhile, the biosolids are sent to the digester, and the sludge is eventually hauled away.

More wastewater coverage here and here.

CU-Boulder team wins the 2012 WEF Student Design Competition

Here’s the release from the Water Environment Federation:

The Water Environment Federation (WEF) proudly announces students from the University of Colorado Boulder and the University of South Florida as winners of the 2012 Student Design Competition. The eleventh annual competition took place this month in New Orleans, La. as part of WEFTEC® 2012, WEF’s 85th Annual Technical Exhibition and Conference.

The University of Colorado Boulder team’s project “Broadmoor Park Properties Wastewater Treatment Plant Upgrade” won in the wastewater design category, and the University of South Florida team’s project “Ragan Park” won in the environmental design category. This was the second win for the University of Colorado Boulder (a student chapter of the Rocky Mountain Water Environment Association) and the second win for the University of South Florida (a student chapter of the Florida Water Environment Association) in eleven years.

A program of the WEF Students & Young Professionals Committee (SYPC), the Student Design Competition promotes real world design experience for students interested in pursuing an education and/or career in water/wastewater engineering and sciences. It tasks individuals or teams of students within a WEF student chapter to prepare a design to help solve a local water quality issue. Teams evaluate alternatives, perform calculations and recommend the most feasible solution based on experience, economics and feasibility.

Members of the University of Colorado Boulder team included Kristin Johansen, Maria Cabeza, Matthew Huntze, Bailey Leppek, Alexandra Murray and faculty advisor Angela Bielefeldt. Members of the University of South Florida team included Micah Blate, Danielle Bertini, Emily Patrick, Lyudmila Haralampieva, Gabriele Dionne and faculty advisor Sarina Ergas. Both teams received certificates and a $2,500 award as announced by WEF Past President Paul Freedman during a ceremony on September 30.

Sponsored by Black & Veatch, CDM Smith, Greeley and Hansen, and HDR Engineers, this year’s competition was organized by SYPC Design Competition Program Chair Lauren Zuravnsky and Vice Chair Allison Reinert with assistance from Design Competition Program Past Chair Michelle Hatcher and WEF Staff Liaison Dianne Crilley.

For more details, see “College Students” at www.wef.org/PublicInformation.

Here’s the release from the University of Colorado at Boulder:

A team of students from CU-Boulder joined students from the University of South Florida as winners of the Water Environment Federation’s 2012 Student Design Competition. The eleventh annual competition took place this month in New Orleans.

CU’s project “Broadmoor Park Properties Wastewater Treatment Plant Upgrade” won in the wastewater design category. This was the second win for CU-Boulder (a student chapter of the Rocky Mountain Water Environment Association) in eleven years.

A program of the WEF Students & Young Professionals Committee (SYPC), the Student Design Competition promotes real world design experience for students interested in pursuing an education and/or career in water/wastewater engineering and sciences. It tasks individuals or teams of students within a WEF student chapter to prepare a design to help solve a local water quality issue. Teams evaluate alternatives, perform calculations and recommend the most feasible solution based on experience, economics and feasibility.

Members of the CU-Boulder team included Kristin Johansen, Maria Cabeza, Matthew Huntze, Bailey Leppek, Alexandra Murray and faculty advisor Angela Bielefeldt. Both teams received certificates and a $2,500 award as announced by WEF Past President Paul Freedman during a ceremony on Sept. 30.

More education coverage here.

Oct. 18 marks 40 years for CWA; Metro Wastewater upgrades plant

Here’s the release from the Metropolitan Wastewater Reclamation District (Steve Frank):

Oct. 18 marks the 40th anniversary of the signing of the federal Clean Water Act (CWA). The CWA established the basic structure for regulating discharges of pollutants into the waters of the United States and regulating quality standards for surface waters.

The Metro Wastewater Reclamation District, which treats 130 million gallons of wastewater a day for metropolitan Denver, has been a major part locally of a revitalization of urban waterways that’s taken place since the CWA was enacted in 1972.

The Metro District was established in 1961 to provide secondary wastewater treatment for the metro Denver region. The District’s main treatment plant, the Robert W. Hite Treatment Facility at 6450 York Street, came on line in late 1966. It has undergone continual upgrades since then.

A $211 million upgrade project now underway at the Hite facility to remove ammonia and nitrates from the water Metro discharges to the South Platte River passed the 40-percent-complete stage at the end of September. Construction began in early 2011.

Construction documents show that 45,000 cubic yards of concrete have been placed to date for the South Secondary Improvements Project. This represents approximately 60 percent of the total concrete placement scheduled for the project. In addition, approximately 50 percent of the underground utility work has been completed.

“The project is within its approved budget and is also running approximately two weeks ahead of the early completion schedule,” said Director of Engineering Mitch Costanzo.

EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson said, “Today 92 percent of Americans have round-the-clock access to safe, clean drinking water that meets national health standards, and more than two-thirds of America’s assessed waterways meet water quality standards,” in a speech at the Water Environment Federation’s annual WEFTEC conference and exposition in New Orleans the first week in October.

“Urban waterways have gone from wastelands to centers of redevelopment and activity, and we have doubled the number of American waters that meet safety standards for swimming and fishing,” Jackson said during her presentation.

The predecessor of the CWA was the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, which was enacted in 1948.

More wastewater coverage here and here.

Four Corners River Health Workshop recap: ‘The Animas knits everything together’ — Ann Oliver

From The Durango Herald (Dale Rodebaugh):

Two hundred people involved in water-quality issues from Silverton to Northern New Mexico described projects, compared notes and asked questions of others Tuesday. The occasion was the Four Corners River Health Workshop sponsored by the New Mexico Environment Department in collaboration with the Animas Watershed Partnership and the San Juan Soil & Water Conservation District…

“There are 35 community water systems and 22 permitted dischargers, including 16 sewerages,” Oliver said. “It also provides room and board for 25 of the birds, frogs, fish and mammals identified by states as species of greatest conservation concern and supports at least 10 fishing and boating recreation businesses.

“The Animas knits everything together,” Oliver said.

Additional pressure on the river is the presence of nutrients, most commonly nitrogen and phosphorus, which in excess cause algae blooms that steal oxygen needed by other fish and aquatic life. Water-treatment plants and fertilizer from agriculture are major sources of nutrients, she said…

Peter Butler, chairman of the Colorado Water Quality Control Commission and a member of the Animas River Stakeholders Group, said new nutrient standards will affect Front Range dischargers long before smaller water-treatment plants such as Durango must upgrade equipment to meet standards.

More Animas River Watershed coverage here and here.

Littleton: City staff is proposing sanitary sewer rate increases of 2.5 percent in 2013 and 3 percent each year 2014 through 2017

From the Littleton Independent (Jennifer Smith):

The Littleton/Englewood Wastewater Treatment Plant is subject to stricter nutrient removal standards as of 2022. In order to accomplish that, city staff says design and permitting for the project needs to begin in 2017, with construction set to begin in 2019.

Currently, customers within city limits pay $233.02 per year; those outside pay $212.21. Staff is proposing an increase of 2.5 percent in 2013 and 3 percent increases every year after that through 2017. That works out to about $6 more a month in 2013 for a single-family home in city limits, up to a total of about $262 a year in 2017.

The total cost of the project is estimated at $15 million, and Littleton splits that evenly with Englewood. However, adding on $5.75 million for required reserves, the city needs at least $13 million in the bank by the end of 2017.

“I can’t think of any other way to do it that’s responsible,” said Charlie Blosten, director of public works.

More wastewater coverage here and here.

Pagosa Water and Sanitation scores a $2 million loan for wastewater pipeline

From the Pagosa Sun (Ed Fincher):

Phil Starks, of the Pagosa Springs Sanitation General Improvement District, reported to town council the approval of a $2 million loan from the Colorado Water Resources and Power Development Authority for a project that would allow sewage to be pumped from downtown Pagosa Springs to the Pagosa Area Water and Sanitation District’s Vista treatment plant, enabling the clean-up of the old sewage lagoon site near Yamaguchi Park…

Although Stark reported success in getting a vote of approval from the water authority, he went on to say, “We have to still do a lot of paperwork. One thing is getting the legal opinion of Mr. Cole (town attorney Bob Cole).” Another is getting the approval of town council, but the sewer line project is still moving forward…

Ken Charles, from the Colorado Department of Local Affairs, which, along with the state water authority, had a say in whether or not to approve the loan, said, “When I took that proposal back and it had changed from a wastewater treatment plant to this pipeline project, everyone said this was a completely different project and we should ask them to re-apply to the program. I just told them this is a prudent decision in all sorts of ways. You’re saving money in the long run, and you’re avoiding another discharge point into the river. It was a win-win situation, and you let your staff work out the details.”

More wastewater coverage here and here.

South Park: The BLM is gearing up for expanded oil and gas activity

From The Denver Post (Bruce Finley):

…Aurora Water, local authorities and conservationists are pushing back, demanding careful planning before any land is leased…

“We want to preserve our environment, our water quality, our air quality, our wildlife corridors, our wildlife and fisheries,” [Park County administrator Tom Eisenman] said. “Our economy is based on recreation.”

Aurora Water wants a 1-mile buffer around Spinney Reservoir, utility spokesman Greg Baker said. “We’re concerned about surface contamination,” he said.

The leases being considered for early next year would allow drilling on 2,850 acres, including land within a half mile of Spinney, the large reservoir that holds water for Aurora.

EPA to host free webinar on on public health and environmental issues related to septic systems on Thursday

From the EPA via Twitter:

We’re hosting a free webinar on Thursday, 1 to 3:30 pm ET, on public health & enviro issues related to septic systems.
https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/957149114

More wastewater coverage here and here.

The Sterling Ranch development signs up for WISE Project infrastructure and water supplies

From the Castle Rock News (Rhonda Moore):

Sterling Ranch managing director Harold Smethills announced a deal with Aurora Water that will deliver 88 million gallons of water already owned by the development’s provider, Dominion Water. The deal paves the way for Sterling Ranch to begin the plat process with Douglas County as the development moves forward, Smethills said.

At the same time, Sterling Ranch signed a second deal with Aurora Water in a 15-year lease for 186 million gallons of water as a sub-agreement of the Water Infrastructure and Supply Efficiency agreement, said Greg Baker, manager of Aurora Water public relations…

Sterling Ranch aims to begin its development process before year’s end and hopes to enter the market as quickly as possible, Smethills said. He hopes to debut Sterling Ranch, a planned development approved for more than 12,000 homes over its 20-year planned build-out, with as many as 2,000 homes in its early phases. “This gets us in the market years before we could have built our infrastructure because the demand is here now,” Smethills said.

More Sterling Ranch coverage here.

Blue River Watershed: Upper Blue Sanitation District wastewater treatment plant employs sealed-pipe system to control odors

From the Summit Daily News (Caddie Nath):

The $32-million plant, which opened its pipes in March, is bringing expanded capacity and cutting-edge technology to the operation…

Equipped with the first water-treatment technology of its kind in the U.S. and a sealed-pipe system to control odors, the clean, spacious facility is the last big capacity-increase project the district ever plans to undertake…

The plant, which processes 2 million gallons per day on its own, is designed to target the key challenges in the business — smell and sanitation standards. Sealed pipes prevent wastewater from ever being exposed inside the plant, while a ventilation mechanism keeps air flowing into, rather than out of, the building, trapping any smell from the facility inside…

Chemical water-treatment technology imported from Europe, and never before used in the U.S., allows the plant to meet Summit County’s rigorous standards for nitrogen and phosphorous.

More wastewater coverage here.

Uncompahgre River Watershed: ‘Good Samaritan’ clean up of Red Mountain Creek in the offing?

From The Telluride Watch (Samantha Wright):

The Uncompahgre Watershed Partnership, a grassroots coalition of citizens, nonprofits, local and regional governments, and federal and state agencies dedicated to understanding the Uncompahgre Watershed, would like to do something about this caustic problem child. Red Mountain Creek is, after all, a tributary of the Uncompahgre River, and one of the main reasons why the southernmost portion of the river is deemed “impaired” – or, as some would say, dead, because it cannot support aquatic life.

The coalition has recently identified its top priority as improving water quality so as to remove impaired segments of the Uncompahgre River from the State of Colorado’s list of impaired streams.

Thus, Przeszlowska is watching with interest current efforts headed up by U.S. Senator Mark Udall (D-Colo.) to find a way to allow so-called Good Samaritans (ranging from individuals to citizen groups like UWP to governmental and nongovernmental agencies) to take on projects to improve water quality in areas where there are abandoned mines, without fear of incurring liability under the Clean Water Act.

Reclamation experts have found plenty of ways to shore up leaky old mines and reduce acid mine drainage flowing into impaired watersheds. These range from simple fixes, like reducing the amount of water entering into the mine by building plugs or diverting the water around old workings, to treating drainage with settling ponds, wetlands, limestone drains, or some other form of passive or active treatment.

But certain provisions in the federal Clean Water Act create major stumbling blocks to such efforts. The Clean Water Act likes big, perfect fixes – like permanent water treatment pants that cost millions to build and millions more annually to operate, and which convert toxic water into potable stuff that fish can cruise around in.

So-called Good Samaritans have had to walk away from more modest mine cleanup projects for fear that if they don’t bring the discharge water all the way up to CWA standards, they may be sued by a third-party citizen or even another environmental group.

Pat Willits, the executive director of the Ridgway-based Trust for Land Restoration, which helps communities deal with a myriad of issues related to abandoned mining, explains the liability problem like this: “Good Samaritans are spooked by the ‘citizen suit’ provision of the Clean Water Act, which says that if someone suspects a violation of the Clean Water Act, a citizen may begin a legal action and if successful, the defending party will have to pay all of the legal expenses of the citizen’s group. If they are unsuccessful, the defendant does not have recourse to countersue.”[...]

Two decades’ worth of efforts to shield would-be Good Samaritans legislatively by creating a new provision in the Clean Water Act (including, most recently, U.S. Senator Mark Udall’s Good Samaritan Cleanup of Abandoned Hardrock Mines Act of 2009), have floundered in Congress, due to fears from environmentalists about opening up the Clean Water Act, even for such benign and altruistic purposes as protecting Good Samaritans…

Fed up with past efforts, Udall is now taking a new approach. He believes that updating, or even simply clarifying, Environmental Protection Agency policy may accomplish pretty much the same thing as legislation in terms of affording legal protection to Good Samaritans.

The agency already has some existing guidance that encourages potential Good Samaritans to enter into voluntary agreements with EPA or federal land management agencies that helps to facilitate certain kinds of Good Samaritan cleanups.

As they stand, these protections are considered good enough protection for Good Samaritans to undertake reclamation projects that do not include direct attempts to improve water quality beyond, for example, rerouting a stream so it does not flow through a mining waste dump, or preventing water from flowing into old mine workings.

More water pollution coverage here.

Northern Colorado Water Utility Science Program Launches

Say hello to GetIntoWater.org. The website is hoping to match educators, water utilities and students looking for a career in water and wastewater distribution and treatment. From the Northern Colorado Project page:

The NoCo WUSP will offer a customized learning approach for each student based on their interests and abilities. Through classroom courses and field training in Fall/Winter of 2012, students will learn important fundamentals of water treatment, wastewater treatment, water distribution and wastewater collection. By March 1, 2013 students will be asked to select the area in which they would like to become certified. Students will apply to take the applicable State of Colorado certification exam. Based on the preferred area of interest, a customized paid internship program will be developed for each student. During the internship program, the student will work with a utility mentor to gain in-depth knowledge of job requirements and duties (for the area of their choice) and study for the certification exam. Finally, the students will be eligible to apply for an On-the-Job Training/Summer Jobs Program for 2013.

There is no cost to participate in the program as a student. However, there is an application and qualification process because space is limited.

More education coverage here.

Southern Delivery System update: Next Pueblo County DA promises to continue lawsuit over the project water quality permit

From The Pueblo Chieftain (Chris Woodka):

Jeff Chostner, who beat District Attorney Bill Thiebaut in the June 26 Democratic primary, said he will pursue a lawsuit now under appeal by the state and Colorado Springs. “It would not be judicially efficient to drop it,” Chostner said Thursday. “We will have the expertise to handle the case within our office.”[...]

“Assuming that it’s not resolved by the end of Bill’s term, we will continue with the case,” Chostner said.

Would he take the case to the state Supreme Court if the appeal goes in the state’s favor? “Let’s handle that one when the contingency arises,” Chostner said.

More Southern Delivery System coverage here and here.