Septic systems are a pervasive part of rural infrastructure in La Plata County. A Bayfield-area resident suggested last week that San Juan Basin Health Department wants to shut them down by eliminating or making too difficult the places where septic tank pumping companies may dump that waste.
Paul Romere, who lives near the Archuleta County line, made the assertion to La Plata County planning commissioners and planning staffers at their July 2 meeting to update the infrastructure section of the 2001 county comprehensive plan.
Not so, said SJBH Director Liane Jollon and City of Durango Utilities Director Steve Salka.
Romere said the last time he had his septic tank pumped, the price was almost double the previous time four or five years earlier. The pumping truck operator told him, "he expects it to double again in a couple years because of the cost of dumping it, and then they are going to shut it off all together. What does this do for everyone with septic tanks? He said if we don't have a place to dump it, we're out of business."
The septic pumper takes the stuff (the technical term is septage) to the Durango sewer treatment plant. The hauler expects that option will disappear in four or five years, Romere said. Then the closest facility will be in Cortez. The operator is trying to build a closer facility but can't get a permit from SJBH, Romere said. "That raises a big red flag. If you can't get your tank pumped, do you let it run out on the ground?" he asked.
Jollon said sewage treatment facilities are permitted and regulated by the Colorado Department of Health and Environment, not SJBH.
Salka said the Durango sewer plant absolutely will not stop taking septage. It will continue as the plant is upgraded in its current location or at a new location farther south. "The worst thing we could do is to stop accepting that," he said. "We will continue to take bulk septage and treat it the proper way. We don't plan to ever stop taking it."
Salka noted the plant generates around 13 percent of the electricity it uses via a methane digester, and the concentrated bulk septage helps feed that.
City sewer customers are facing a series of significant rate increases, but the rates charged to septic haulers are not tied to that, Salka said. The rate to septic haulers went up $100 per 1,000 gallons in 2013. "It won't go up that much again. It will be more smaller increases. ... I had to get it up to cover operating costs or to clean up the mess they spilled." Now the trucks are outfitted properly to prevent spills, he said.
County Planning Director Damian Peduto responded to Romere's concerns. "I've had conversations with the husband and wife of the septic company," he said. "They are interested in land application to rehabilitate soil content and provide an opportunity to treat and dispose. They have indicated they've been talking to San Juan Basin Health and haven't gotten anywhere over several years."
He clarified to the Times, "We are working with San Juan Basin Health to identify appropriate locations" for a disposal facility. "The county hasn't taken that up. I'm not sure where it goes now."
The federal Environmental Protection Agency sets guidelines for land application, and some local governments in Colorado have adopted guidelines in conjunction with their land use regulations, he said, adding, "We aren't there."
Jollon said there is active discussion between the county and SJBH about land application. "It would be a county land issue," she said. "There are EPA guidelines for land application. Currently, neither the state or local jurisdictions have regulations for that. So we are currently engaged in that discussion."
Planning Commission Chair Jim Tencza thanked Romere for raising an issue that hadn't been considered before, "which is why we really want the public to come" to the comp plan meetings.
Betsy Romere had concerns about using the presence of infrastructure to guide growth. "It's almost a red flag that we (the county) can herd you into communities where we live on top of each other, and rural goes away. I don't want infrastructure to be used to deny people choices of where they live."
Peduto responded, "Guide? Absolutely. Isn't that a role of having information on layers of maps, so people can see the path of least resistance to go where we want them to grow, if the market conditions provide for it and people choose to do it?"
Tencza commented, "There's a difference between helpful guidance and authoritarian guidance."
Planning commissioner Tom Gorton said the word "guide" implies a next step to "direct."
Peduto said, "It doesn't prohibit or eliminate. You are free to go wherever you want. People will choose to live in some of these other areas. They just can't expect that level of service."
Paul Romere complained about lack of cell phone service and high speed broadband internet where he lives at the June 4 comp plan meeting. He reiterated last week, "We have people who come into the subdivision to look at lots. The first thing they ask about is the internet."
The infrastructure section of the comp plan includes transportation, water, sewer, telecommunications, and general utilities such as electric, phone, cable, and central natural gas. It has goals, objectives, and policies for each type of infrastructure, including incentives for providers to extend services to areas that don't have them. Coverage of infrastructure was minimal in the 2001 comp plan.
Comp plan draft updates can be viewed at http://co.laplata.co.us/departments_and_elected_officials/planning/comprehensive_plan. There is a place to submit comments.
According to the comp plan update schedule, extractive resources will be the next topic starting in August. Comp plan meetings are the first Thursday each month at 6 p.m., now in the new county administration building, the former Vectra Bank at 11th Street and E. Second Avenue in Durango.
