In February, hydro-geologists Ralf Topper and Andy Horn from the Colorado Geological Survey presented the results of their groundwater quality study to the El Paso County Board of County Commissioners.The BOCC formed a groundwater quality study committee in 2009 and asked Topper and Horn to review all available literature, as they searched for data on groundwater quality in the Upper Black Squirrel Creek basin.In particular, their review focused on nitrate contamination, which is associated with septic systems.The result: They found few data, and what they did find has little relevance because it doesn’t come from areas where many septic systems are in use.There are large parts of the basin, such as the Falcon area, for which no data is available, Horn said.After researching existing literature and contacting government agencies, water districts, businesses and individuals who might have information; Topper and Horn obtained data for 72 Upper Black Squirrel Creek basin alluvial wells sampled between 1954 and 2009.However, the 72 wells are located at the basin’s center in a 6-mile-wide corridor along Ellicott Highway. “We simply don’t have any data points in those portions of the Upper Black Squirrel Creek basin where current development activity is the highest,” Topper said.”If you’re interested in what the impacts of urbanization have been in the Upper Black Squirrel Creek basin, there aren’t any wells in the existing literature for us to use,” Horn said.Another problem is that half of the samples are more than 20 years old.Eleven samples were taken before 1980, 65 in the 1980s, 53 in the 1990s and 21 samples since 2000, Horn said. And almost all of the 72 wells were sampled just once.Only one well was sampled often (48 times), and the samples showed a trend of increasing nitrate levels that reached 8.5 milligrams per liter in the mid-1990s – at the high end of the Environmental Protection Agency’s limit of 10 milligrams per liter, Horn said.In general, the existing data showed the untreated alluvial water in the basin to be of good quality, but the data also showed that EPA drinking water quality standards have been exceeded for arsenic (one sample) and nitrate (nine samples), he said.The data also showed that maximum contaminant levels for total dissolved solids, iron, sulfate and pH have been exceeded, but these are not enforceable and are mainly associated with aesthetics such as taste, odor and discoloration of skin and teeth, Horn said.None of the data showed that water quality standards were exceeded for pesticides, herbicides or volatile organic chemicals that are carcinogenic or radioactivity, Topper said.Given the lack of data along Highway 24, where most of the development is planned or has occurred; Horn and Topper recommended the drilling of monitoring wells in the Falcon and Peyton areas.Some of the wells should be located down gradient from areas that have plentiful septic systems. For comparison, some should be located in areas that don’t have any septic systems, Horn said.The monitoring of wells would be part of a second-phase study that would also include taking samples twice a year from 12 existing wells in the Ellicott Highway corridor.All but one of the study group’s members favor continuing the study, said Elaine Kleckner, committee member and planner for the county’s community services department.Whether the BOCC agrees to a second-phase study depends on the availability of dollars to fund it.The committee estimates a second-phase study will cost about $112,000, including $5,500 to drill each of the eight monitoring wells.”The county applied for state funds last year and wasn’t ranked very high,” Kleckner said.”Now that we have this study, we may be looked at more favorably for those funds. The benefit of phase 2 is it would inform (add to) our knowledge of water quality and water quantity,” she said.The study’s first phase had a $53,000 budget. El Paso County, the Cherokee, Meridian Service and Sunset metropolitan districts; the Upper Black Squirrel Groundwater Management District; and Accretive Investments Inc. provided $37,000 in cash, and the CGS provided an in-kind match worth $16,000.It’s important to get people in Falcon interested in groundwater quality, said Dave Doran, president of the Upper Black Squirrel Groundwater Management board.”We want to see data collection in areas where individual septic tanks are proliferating, so we’re willing to chip in our fair share on a phase 2,” said Sean Chambers, general manager of Cherokee Metropolitan District.Committee member Chuck Barber said the scope of a second-phase study should include a broader range of potential contaminants, such as those found in pharmaceuticals and personal care products.With oil and gas exploration on the rise in the county, the county should have a well-monitoring program in place, said Black Forest resident Judy von Ahlefeldt.”If they frack, you’re going to have the produced water to deal with, and there’s a big suite of chemicals used in that process,” she said.Commissioner Amy Lathen asked committee members to continue meeting and to define the scope of any future study.
