Update: August 2007

The District met with representatives of the EPA and the Colorado Department of Health and Environment on Aug. 9. The state encouraged the District to continue its testing and responded positively to initial results, which indicate our discharge doesn't affect fish life.

State Grants District Extension on Ammonia Treatment

You can fight City Hall! In order to get the District’s wastewater permit renewed, the State required that we meet strict new ammonia guidelines on our wastewater discharge because it goes into an unnamed tributary of Gooseberry Gulch. The cost of meeting these standards is between $700,000 and $3.5 million according to preliminary engineering estimates.

Based on resident input at our January 2006 public meeting, the District decided to hire a consulting firm to study the tributary and determine whether indeed there is any aquatic life that is potentially endangered by our effluent. The District appealed to the state to get a temporary extension on meeting the ammonia removal requirements while we conduct the study.  On March 13, 2007, Attorney Dave Lindholm appeared before The State Water Quality Commission, and the commission granted our request for an extension until 2010.

Based on preliminary results, the Board of Directors believes the study will show that Mountain Water should be granted site-specific ammonia regulations since there is no sign of aquatic life in this tributary. By the time our effluent reaches Gooseberry Gulch, it is so diluted that ammonia is not a factor for any fish. If the District can get some relief on the ammonia standards, it will save taxpayers considerable amount of money.