Whether it’s finding enough of it or protecting it from contamination, water is a Colorado issue that can dampen the best of planned developments.In an area like Falcon and the eastern plains, septic tank systems are the norm. Ensuring that septic tanks do not contaminate water is the responsibility of everyone – from county planner to homeowner.In the last eight to 10 years, 700 to 900 septic permits have been issued each year in the county, said Mike McCarthy, air and water quality project director for the El Paso County Department of Health and Environment. New septic systems account for 75 percent of the permits issued, while 25 percent of the permits are issued for repairs on existing systems.Kent Kuster, an environmental protection specialist with the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, said 25 percent of the population uses septic tank systems. He said an increase in the number of permits issued has been, in part, because baby boomers are moving to larger properties in Colorado – away from the cities.The land development code in the county specifies that a minimum two-and-a-half acre lot is required for the installation of a septic system, and a minimum of a 100-foot setback must be maintained for any adjacent well and a septic system on the proposed property.The High Plains Ranch Development is a new community south of Falcon Highway along Murr Road. High Plains Ranch has water rights on 2,500 acres of land, and they created a water district to service 1,800 acres, which will include 990 home sites. The district will get its water from the deep aquifers of the Denver Basin and not the upper Black Squirrel alluvial aquifers.Lindsay Case, The Case Company vice president and High Plains Ranch developer, said they will use a recharge system to reintroduce water into the system.”All water in the Upper Black Squirrel is intensely competing because it is a natural resource. We need to decide how state water laws allocate water,” Case said. “What drives development is water. If you don’t have water, you don’t have anything.”Home sites vary in size, but each two-and-a-half-acre home site will have a septic system.”We track all state laws to be a facilitator of a quality future,” Case said.”If a subdivision is planned in the county on individual wells and septic, the developer must get a water quality test and submit the test results to the land development department,” McCarthy said. The test identifies inorganic substances, such as fluoride and heavy metals; radiological contaminants, such as radon; and bacteria from pesticides, herbicides, and fertilizers.State and county regulations for septic systems are designed to protect water quality, McCarthy said. Soil tests for ground water issues also are necessary on each residential lot to ensure the soil is not too permeable and there is no direct access to an aquifer in a bedrock area.El Paso County requires 48 inches of suitable soil before accessing bedrock ground water, he said. “Colorado is more stringent than most states,” McCarthy said. “Most states only require 12 inches.”The quality of standard for domestic wastewater is the same for typical residents, McCarthy said. But it can vary if a resident has a hobby, such as photography, and develops film, he said. The resident must take precautions to avoid putting silver into a wastewater stream that eventually could go into an aquifer, McCarthy added.Larger homes are taken into consideration because of the possibility of more people inhabiting the homes. “With the five to eight bedroom homes, usually there are more people; therefore, flow from the house is larger, which is calculated in,” McCarthy said.It all adds up to a more “rigorous permitting process that 20 years ago,” Kuster said. And he said there are many new products to treat septic systems as well.However, contaminants can seep in.Contaminants can be derived from many sources, McCarthy said. Bacteria are the most common contaminant. A bacterium often introduces various forms of health hazards, like e-coli. (The recent spinach scare has been linked to contaminated water.)Nitrate sis another contaminant found in agricultural areas, fertilizers, livestock, confined animals and feedlots.In infants less than six months old, nitrates can cause methemoglobinemia or “blue baby syndrome,” McCarthy said. An infant’s skin turns blue because of nitrates bonding with red blood cells, which prevents the transport of oxygen through the body. Nitrates can also affect pregnant women by limiting the amount of red blood cells that are necessary to process oxygen. The transfer of blood between mom and child can then lead to miscarriage.”Fluoride is an issue for kids that drink a lot of well water because it affects the development of teeth,” McCarthy said. “Sometimes the levels are far above the drinking water standard necessary to help develop teeth.”If there was evidence of community water contamination, McCarthy said the well in question would be closed or regulated by blending it with another well to keep contaminants below the standard.But he said individual well owners should test their water, too, although there is no requirement to test a private well except when it is first pumped or the pump is changed. The county health department tests for bacteria only. The state health department does additional types of testing.Assessing the need to pump septic systems should be done on a three to five year basis. Pumping keeps solids from overflowing into absorption fields.”A little bit of maintenance goes a long way,” Kuster said.As one of 208 members of the water quality management plan committee, McCarthy addresses water and wastewater systems with lead agencies like county health and planning, the Pikes Peak Area Council of Governments, and other county governments, such as Teller and Park. The representatives review new wastewater systems and expansions of wastewater systems and make recommendations on construction of new wastewater systems.”The goal is to have less, but larger plants,” McCarthy said. “We look at consolidation issues with wastewater systems.”
