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By Ken Pletcher Sopris Sun Contributor

On Nov. 14, the state’s Water Quality Control Commission (WQCC) members gave fi nal approval to regulations that pave the way for treated wastewater from sanitation districts to be used as drinking water. The measure had won unanimous provisional approval by the commissioners at its October meeting. The WQCC is the administrative agency under the Colorado Department of Public Health & Environment that is “responsible for developing specifi c water quality policy” in the state.

The process is known as direct potable reuse (DPR), where wastewater that has been treated in the conventional way at a sanitation plant is subjected to further purifi cation and fi ltering that brings the effl uent up to potable (drinking-quality) level. It can then be recirculated into municipal water systems.

The standard process for handling wastewater in Colorado is that, after an appropriate level of treatment, it is returned to a river, stream or reservoir or is injected into the ground. In that way, the discharge mixes with “raw” surface water or groundwater, which then acts as an environmental buff er. Downstream from those discharge sources, the combined fl ow can become a source for drinking water after it is suitably treated at a municipal waterworks, a process called indirect potable reuse (IPR).

The sanitary districts of each of the three main communities along the Roaring Fork River — Carbondale, Basalt and Aspen — all discharge treated wastewater into the river. None uses water directly from the Roaring Fork in its water supply, but the water systems of Basalt and Carbondale obtain part of their water from wells driven into the Roaring Fork alluvium (accumulated sediments along the river bed).

The process leading up to WQCC’s approval of the new rule on DPR was several years in the making. Tyson Ingels, the lead drinking water engineer on staff at the WQCC, told The Sopris Sun that the fi nal decision came from a 2021 informal stakeholder process that was “built on four to fi ve years of earlier work” by highly skilled experts in the fi eld. He continued, “I’m really proud of the amount of collaboration and good will from stakeholders and professionals … we really relied on a lot of expertise from them.”

Laura Belanger, a water reuse specialist and policy advisor at Western Resource Advocates who was involved in the WQCC’s process, echoed Ingels’ sentiments. She told The Sun that it was a “wellcrafted regulation” and “a super collaborative eff ort” that was “very transparent and included a lot of one-on-one with aff ected communities.” She continued, “We’re really excited about this new regulation,” which will “help meet the gap between supply and demand,” especially on the Front Range.

Ingels elaborated on the process to fi nalize the regulation. Now that it has been formally adopted by the WQCC, it is being sent to the Secretary of State’s offi ce, which will then publish it. Following a 20-day period after publication, the regulation will become

Schematic of one way wastewater can be treated and used as potable water. From "Guidelines for Direct Potable Reuse in Colorado", 2019; National Water Research Institute offi cial. Ingels did note that the new rules are completely optional for a city or town and are in place to guide the process for adopting a DPR system. He mentioned that the agency has not yet received any applications.

It seems likely that the development of any early DPR systems will be in the densely populated Front Range urban corridor, where economies of scale will be an important factor for the considerable investment required. Mark O’Meara, utilities director in Carbondale, told The Sun that DPR was an “ongoing debate,” but that, “We don’t have anything in the pipeline … the infrastructure to do [DPR] would be signifi cant.”

In an email to The Sun, Nathan Nelson, treatment manager at the Aspen Consolidated Sanitation District, stated that DPR was “the future of wastewater treatment.” He went on, “I can see it happening in Aspen if the never-ending drought and dwindling snowpack forces us to reuse wastewater and treat it to potable standards.” And then there is the “ick” factor, the notion that one may be drinking water derived from sewage. Belanger emphasized the importance of reaching out early to the community (including non-English speakers), and making it clear that the use of DPR is really no diff erent from the growing number of IPR systems in use throughout Colorado.

Snow is fl ying and the temps have dropped below freezing. It’s a perfect recipe to instill safe and slow driving habits. What’s more is the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) is currently down a number of snow plow operators for clearing Highway 82 and Highway 133 this winter season.

Only three of 10 snow plowing positions for the region are currently fi lled. While this may read as alarming at fi rst, CDOT assures that there is no need to be overly concerned and moreover that worker shortages for the state agency are not atypical. Last year, CDOT only had fi ve of the positions fi lled for the same area.

As needed, CDOT plans to divert drivers who typically (un)cover roads in Grand Junction to the Roaring Fork and Crystal River valleys.

“We’ve identifi ed employees with the proper license and training and we will strategically bring them up to the Roaring Fork Valley based on detailed weather forecasts and conditions,” Elise Thatcher with CDOT told The Sopris Sun. “CDOT is a large organization and one of the benefi ts of having many teams out in the fi eld is that there is redundancy.” She added that personnel traveling farther than their assigned region are compensated with overtime.

Thatcher notes that employers are competing to hire people with commercial drivers licenses (CDL) across the country due to global supply chain issues. On top of which, especially locally, the cost of living has aff ected retention.

“In the Roaring Fork Valley in particular, the acute rise in housing costs — especially in areas like Rifl e and Parachute, which have historically been aff ordable — create a challenge across the workforce,” said Thatcher.

“Mountain areas which combine higher housing costs and sometimes limited applicant pools can be harder to fi ll,” she continued, and then circled back, “but surging staff from across areas of the state is an eff ective strategy for managing gaps which has been successful for years in areas like Interstate 70 near the Eisenhower Tunnel.”

On Nov. 3, CDOT released a fact sheet, “CDOT Maintenance Readiness”, acknowledging the worker shortage and strategies implemented to address it. The document begins: “CDOT is taking an all-handson-deck approach to the upcoming winter,” and goes on to describe tactics for retaining workers and navigating snow removal this season.

“Tactics include rotating crews to address roadways that are being highly impacted by adverse conditions, providing updated housing stipends — and workforce housing in some of Colorado’s most sought after locations — and growing CDOT’s CDL program to those just starting out in their careers as professional highway maintainers.”

Working for CDOT

In the past two months, according to the Nov. 3 fact sheet, 68 people have joined CDOT to help maintain state roadways.

While the job calls for a standard 40-hour work week, there are times when employees are called out in the middle of the night to address issues which require CDOT’s attention.

“Also, during snowstorms, maintenance employees switch to 12-hour shifts,” explained Thatcher. “They often end up working more than 40 hours a week during a storm … and they are again earning overtime for those additional hours.”

Noting that prospective employees may feel discouraged to pursue a career which requires obtaining a CDL before being hired, CDOT toted its on-the-job training program. Since September 2021, 72 employees have earned their CDLs and, according to the Nov. 3 release, “33 students are currently in the program and expect to have their CDLs in the next few weeks.”

Since 2018, CDOT has been providing housing stipends for some of its employees living in areas where there is a higher cost of living. After recently performing a market analysis, CDOT decided “to extend stipends to a broader range of geographic areas.” Stipends can reach up to $2,000 a month depending on the location.

“Together we help make sure locals can get to school, the grocery store, doctor appointments and other critical parts of day-to-day life,” concluded Thatcher. “It’s a demanding job and CDOT is taking several new and innovative steps to better compensate employees for their work.”