State regulators have issued Edgemont Ranch a notice of violation after the neighborhood’s drinking water did not meet health standards.
On Dec. 3, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment issued the violation to the Edgemont Ranch Metro District, a public agency that provides domestic water to about 600 homes in Edgemont Ranch and Edgemont Highlands, northeast of Durango.
Metro districts are required by state law to submit quarterly reports on water quality, which entails testing for a variety of possible contaminants.
For 2019, the Edgemont Ranch Metro District’s water tested above state standards for total trihalomethanes at 82.4 micrograms per liter, slightly above the accepted level of 80 MCL.
Trihalomethanes, according to state health officials, are considered a chronic contaminant in drinking water, which means a person would have to consume the water over a number of years before experiencing potential health effects to their liver, kidneys or central nervous system.
Consuming trihalomethanes over the long term also carries an increased risk of cancer. Infants, pregnant women, the elderly and people with weak immune systems are considered at a higher risk, state health officials say.
Robert Ludwig, water operator for Edgemont Ranch Metro District, said a perfect storm of factors, reflective of an ever-changing climate in recent years, caused trihalomethanes to spike.
Edgemont Ranch’s drinking water comes off the Florida River and into a treatment plant before being delivered to homes.
In 2018, during one of the worst drought years on record, the Florida River all but dried up by late August. Then, a winter of heavy snowfall in 2018-19, which led to high spring runoff, caused a lot of organic compounds to be stirred and enter the watershed.
“We’re seeing more organics in the watershed, from human activity, environmental change,” Ludwig said. “It’s the reality of just being in the mountains and the different extremes that are taxing the watershed.”
Residents were notified of the violation on Dec. 26. Ludwig said public notice was issued within a time frame set by the state, but he understands some residents’ frustrations about the lag time.
“Everything happened on a timeline,” he said. “But it wasn’t easy over the holidays, which is probably the worst time to do a violation.”
By October, however, Ludwig said trihalomethanes levels had returned to safe levels, below state standards.
Ian Dickson, a spokesman for CDPHE, said the agency routinely checks water-quality compliance with metro districts.
“If non-compliance continues, we could exercise our authority to issue an enforcement action that would require the system to take necessary actions to resolve the violation in a timely manner,” he said. “However, we also offer technical assistance to the water system to help identify potential improvements that could reduce total trihalomethane levels and get them back into compliance.”
Ludwig said the entire episode has been a learning experience for the district, a lesson that may become evermore relevant as the climate increasingly becomes more unpredictable.
He said this is the metro district’s first violation, and it may require water operators to look toward new technologies and methods in treating water.
“It’s part of our changing environment,” he said. “But this has definitely raised everyone’s awareness. People are a little more tuned into what’s going on.”
Ludwig said the metro district plans to contact residents in coming weeks with results from January’s sampling.
jromeo@durangoherald.com
