Cherokee Metropolitan Districtís 4.8-million-gallon Water Reclamation Facility, south of Highway 94 off Drennan Road in Colorado Springs, Colorado; has been out of compliance since it began operating in June 2010. Following a feasibility study, CMD has created a proposal that would amend the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environmentís Water Quality Control Division Regulation No. 42, which is related to site-specific groundwater quality standards.According to the districtís website, CMDís main service area encompasses about 6,300 acres and serves about 17,945 customers. The districtís boundaries include Peterson Air Force Base to the south, Powers Boulevard to the west, Barnes Road to the north and along Highway 24 east to Marksheffel Road. The district also includes about 800 acres near Ellicott (which is about 20 miles east of the main district boundaries), where it serves 93 residential customers. CMD also provides water to two major water users outside the district boundaries: Shriever Air Force Base and Woodmen Hills Metropolitan District.The Water Quality Control Divisionís Regulation No. 41 sets the statewide basic standards for groundwater, and Regulation No. 42 applies those standards to each specific groundwater site across the state. However, Regulation No. 42 gives the Water Quality Control Commission the right to modify those basic standards on a site-by-site basis.Per Regulation No. 41, the allowable discharge concentration of total dissolved solids is 400 milligrams per liter. CMDís proposal would change that allowable discharge concentration in the Upper Black Squirrel Creek Alluvial Aquifer site from a maximum of 400 milligrams per liter to 600 milligrams per liter.Sean Chambers, CMD general manager, said that during the reclamation facilityís planning phase in 2006, the district was required to apply for a list of preliminary effluent limitations, which determine how much effluent can be discharged from a particular site. According to the United States Environmental Protection Agencyís website, effluents are wastewater ñ- treated or untreated ñ- that flows from a treatment plant, sewer or industrial outfall.However, Chambers said the total dissolved solids limits were not on the list CMD received, but were listed on the final permit the district was required to submit before the plant began operating. Because total dissolved solids limits are in the permit, CMD has to meet the requirement, he said. ìThat is a challenge because they (total dissolved solids limits) did not show up (in the permitting process) until 2010 when the facility was built and ready to open.îCMD entered into a negotiated compliance order on consent with the state health department in 2014 as a result of the total dissolved solids violations, he said. According to the compliance order, CMD has been fined $63,720 for the violations.ìAt the moment, we do not have a wastewater treatment plant for total dissolved solids,î Chambers said. ìThe official filing that was submitted on March 16 to the Water Quality Control Division proposes changes to the site-specific regulations for total dissolved solids for the Upper Black Squirrel Basin, where our water discharges.îIf their proposal is accepted, CMD plans to spend $9 million to create a reverse osmosis treatment plant at the end of the current reclamation facility, Chambers said. If not, the district will need to spend about $30 million to build a similar treatment plant to bring the total dissolved solids down to 400 milligrams per liter, he said. ìThe commission could say that our proposed 600 milligrams per liter does not work for them but 500 milligrams per liter is acceptable; in which case, we have a plan for an $18 million facility we could do to meet that requirement,î Chambers said.Regardless of the decision reached by the Water Quality Control Commission, CMD will have a facility up and running by 2022, he said.CMD has held two stakeholder meetings to involve members of the community and other interested parties and to inform them of the proposed changes the district has submitted, he said. Over the next few months, until the hearing scheduled for Aug. 8, any party wishing to file an objection to the proposal can do so through the Water Quality Control Commission, Chambers said.The most recent meeting on March 10 was held in Monument. Gavin Wince, a Calhan resident whose property is located within the Upper Black Squirrel Basin, attended the meeting and said the idea of raising the total dissolved solids limit was objectionable.ìI believe that Cherokee (Metro District) is designed to fail on purpose so that they can deliberately trash our aquifer with deniable culpability,î Wince said.
