For decades, millions of gallons of partially treated sewage have trickled out of Lightner Creek Mobile Home Park’s wastewater system in violation of state water quality standards. The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment has issued four written warnings over the last 19 years, and now says it will finally bring down the hammer and fine the park’s owner this year.

The unlined wastewater lagoon processing the park’s sewage is leaching coliform bacteria and iron into its namesake waterway, a tributary of the Animas River, and has needed replacement since 1979.

The levels of contaminants in the wastewater discharge have exceeded the limits set by CDPHE since at least 2004. The last valid discharge permit, which the park regularly violated, expired in 2009. The park releases an estimated average of 10,000 gallons of effluent per day.

For the last 15 years, the park’s wastewater effluent has been released into Lightner Creek without a valid permit as the enforcement arm of the state health department has struggled with how best to compel compliance.

CDPHE’s Water Quality Control Division issued formal notices of violation in 2005, 2016 and 2018. On Nov. 29, 2023, the division issued a fourth warning. The notices service as a legal foundation off which the state may pursue penalties for noncompliance.

But for years, the department has chosen not to do so, fearing that financial penalties would only exacerbate the dire financial straits of the park’s owner, who has for years been unable to afford the necessary upgrades.

The park is owned by Darlene Mann, who has come under fire for both her lack of action on the wastewater discharge, and, more recently, issues with the park’s freshwater service. Last year, many of the park’s residents went two months without running water.

Coliform bacteria and iron levels in the wastewater effluent flowing into Lightner Creek have consistently exceeded the state’s parameters by a factor of five or more, records maintained by the Environmental Protection Agency show. In the third quarter of 2022, total general coliform levels exceeded state parameters by 109,882%.

Iron presents few health risks to humans (although it can discolor water and hardware), but general coliform refers to a broad category of bacteria that, in high concentrations, can pose a threat to human health. E. coli falls into that broad category of bacteria.

Officials maintain that the department’s ultimate goal is for the park to achieve compliance, not to levy punitive fines. In an effort not to jeopardize the future of approximately 40 units of affordable housing, CDPHE has opted to bark, in the form of notices, but shied away from issuing a biting fine.

With only a toothless bark or a potentially fatal bite as options, the state has been stuck in a predicament.

“It’s kind of a balancing act,” DPHE Clean Water Compliance and Enforcement Section Manager Kelly Morgan said.

The first three notices of violations yielded little result, and the state has a five-year statute of limitations to pursue penalties.

“We needed to update and renew those ongoing violations,” Morgan said, explaining the latest notice of violation.

In the past, Mann’s responses to the state’s warnings have ranged from short-lived attempts at compliance to radio silence. Despite a requirement that she respond to the last notice of violation admitting or denying each paragraph, a spokeswoman for CDPHE said they received no response.

Mann did not respond to a request for comment for this story.

In 2022, a water consultant contracted to test the park’s effluent said, “I can’t believe she’s not in jail.”

Although jail time is not a real possibility, a hefty fine certainly is.

The 2016 and 2018 notices said Mann could face penalties of up to $10,000 for each day of violation. The latest warns of a maximum daily penalty of $61,427.

Morgan was hesitant to provide specifics on the magnitude of the fine, as well as when it might be issued. She did confirm that CDPHE would issue a fine sometime in 2024.

The fine will conform with the department’s civil penalties policy, a 15-page document that prescribes a calculation formula based on factors including severity of the violation, whether the violator has cooperated and what economic benefit the experienced from noncompliance.

The single largest step toward progress was made not by Mann, but by a pair of brothers, Eric and Chris Hamilton.

Chris Hamilton, a Durango-based attorney and business owner, first expressed an interest in buying the park in 2021. He and his brother Eric, a Washington-based mechanical engineer, have been working to restore the park’s infrastructure since then.

Although Chris Hamilton is unwilling to close on the sale until they have a wastewater permit from CDPHE in hand, they agreed to lease the park from Mann beginning last April in order to solve the water outage crisis.

Since then, Eric Hamilton estimates they have sunk $80,000 into the park, and Chris Hamilton says he is unsure whether they will ever recoup the investment.

Mann owns seven mobile homes in the park, but is delinquent on rent, Chris Hamilton said, as are some other residents.

“Our full rent roll is like 21 grand a month, and we’re making maybe 13,” he said.

The continual problems with the park’s water system have made for slow progress toward an ultimate resolution.

Eric Hamilton said that given the hurdles of engineering a system, sourcing the materials and gaining approval from the state, he expects to begin construction on a new wastewater system in the summer of 2025.

“The biggest problem is regulatory,” he said.

Mann has historically struggled to cough up money for other park improvements and necessities. Contractors working to restore water service last spring walked off the job when they were not paid; Mann told a judge in March that she knew she had to supply 20 gallons of water to each person daily while the water was out, but “just didn’t have the money to do it.”

The Hamiltons are moving slowly, in part, because they want to ensure that they can pay for park expenses with the park’s revenue.

Even if Mann does not pay the fine and the Hamiltons do buy the park, Morgan said the penalties are against Mann’s limited liability corporation, and not the property.

“The liability for the penalties will not transfer to the Hamiltons,” she said.

rschafir@durangoherald.com