State health officials will face tighter deadlines and more scrutiny of a water quality permitting program that has been plagued by massive backlogs and criticized by some small communities who say they can’t afford their state-mandated water treatment systems.
The changes would come under a new bipartisan law Senate Bill 305 approved last month. Gov. Jared Polis is expected to sign the bill this week, according to state Sen. Jeff Bridges, a Democrat from Greenwood Village who is one of the bill’s sponsors and chairs the Joint Budget Committee.
“This bill is a reset in the relationship between the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) and local governments that both sides believe will result in better communication, collaboration and ultimately better water quality,” Bridges said this week.
This Fresh Water News story is a collaboration between The Colorado Sun and Water Education Colorado. It also appears at wateredco.org.
The permits are required under the federal Clean Water Act and are designed to protect Colorado’s rivers and streams from contaminants contained in wastewater. The state is required to enforce the federal law.
The measure is designed to help the CDPHE battle a permitting backlog that has left dozens of communities without a current wastewater discharge permit. Those communitie can still discharge under a special administrative rule, but the backlog means the communities aren’t complying with the most current wastewater treatment standards that seek to reduce the various contaminants, such as ammonia and nitrates, being discharged into streams.
Earlier this year, as the state sought to fast-track permit approvals, small towns revolted, saying the new permits that were issued were too tough and that it was too expensive to upgrade treatment systems to comply.
The controversy comes as climate change and drought reduce stream flows and cause water temperatures to rise, and as population growth increases the amount of wastewater being discharged to Colorado’s rivers.
In response to the towns’ concerns, the CDPHE water quality control division took the unusual step in March of holding off on taking enforcement action against at least some of the towns that say they can’t comply with the new regulations.
Senate Bill 305 will allow communities to hire outside engineers and consultants to help speed permit processing times and it also requires the CDPHE to develop new rules establishing clear timeframes for granting or denying different types of permits by Dec. 31, 2027.
In addition, according to Nicole Rowan, director of the water quality control division, they will set a schedule by Dec. 31, 2026, for reducing the backlog.
The changes aren’t likely to help Ault, a community of 2,350 people on the Eastern Plains that finally received a new permit in March. The permit, however, contains standards the town’s 9-year-old wastewater treatment plant can’t meet. The CDPHE has agreed to suspend any enforcement action against the community until it can do additional analysis to see if it can comply with the new rules simply by upgrading its treatment plant, according to Grant Ruff, who oversees the town’s treatment system.
The town still owes $1.2 million on the existing plant. Building a new one would likely cost more than $20 million, Ruff said.
“We hope it is feasible (to comply) by making minor upgrades,” he said. “Otherwise we will have to spend $20 million to $30 million.”
That won’t be the case for towns seeking new permits in the years ahead.
“The new standards will be tremendously helpful in the future because the state will have to take into consideration the community’s ability to pay,” he said.
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