Chaffee County puts Ruby Mountain Springs bottling permit on probation, orders weed remediation and ownership review

Chaffee County commissioners voted to place the Ruby Mountain Springs bottled‑water permit on probation and ordered the permit holder to show full compliance with permit conditions, including the county weed management plan, and to clarify recent ownership changes.

The Board of County Commissioners voted to require Blue Triton Brands (the current permit holder) to demonstrate that invasive bull thistle and other noxious weeds at Bighorn Springs and Ruby Mountain Springs have been brought under control by March 1, 2026, and to provide a public clarification of the corporate ownership/transfer questions within 60 days. The action followed an annual report presentation, staff reviews and extended public comment that raised water‑export, road‑use and stewardship concerns.

Why it matters: the permit allows withdrawal of groundwater for commercial bottling at Ruby Mountain Springs and requires annual reporting, ecological mitigation, water‑augmentation and local community contributions as permit conditions. Neighbors, local conservation groups and some commissioners said the county must enforce permit conditions more strictly, pointing to a 2024 bloom of bull thistle and to a series of corporate transactions that transferred the bottling operation through multiple owners.

During a 2024 operational review, Blue Triton reported total withdrawals well below its permit limits: an annual withdrawal of 90.17 acre‑feet against a 196 acre‑foot annual cap; a monthly peak under the 16.6 acre‑foot monthly cap; and a maximum daily draw of 0.44 acre‑feet, under the 1.0 acre‑foot daily cap. Company presenters said augmentation and replacement water are provided via releases tied to Twin Lakes Reservoir and the State Engineer’s augmentation plans, producing a small reported net surplus (11.58 acre‑feet returned to the Arkansas River for 2024).

But county staff and the county’s water attorney and engineer noted one material compliance concern: persistent noxious weed presence at the Bighorn Springs conservation easement. County weed control staff and outside ecologists told commissioners the site contained bull thistle seed that dispersed in 2024; county policy and Colorado law list bull thistle as a species requiring eradication where feasible. County staff recommended a probationary finding to press the permittee to finish planned weed‑control work during the growing season.

Blue Triton representatives said they have invested in site restoration dating to an earlier reclamation project completed in 2012, reported more than $24 million in cumulative local investments since 2009, and described a plan for two additional specialist weed‑removal events in 2025 with a registered biologist on site. Blue Triton and affiliated trucking partners also described business limits written into the permit and into company practice — for example, company materials say no more than 25 trucks a day and no more than two trucks per hour are associated with daily hauling operations, and that trucking partners advertise locally to hire drivers.

Public commenters pressed two themes: environmental stewardship and corporate control. Several residents urged the county to keep water uses local and to avoid export; others asked the county to re‑examine whether the permit transfer to new corporate entities should have triggered a formal transfer review. A county weed official and independent ecologist explained the biological implication of a year in which seed production occurred, saying eradication timelines can be extended because seed banks persist and that mechanical removal of large infestations is labor‑intensive.

The board’s order requires the permit holder to demonstrate full compliance with all terms of the extended permit, specifically including compliance with the Chaffee County Weed Management Plan, by March 1, 2026; the board also asked the permittee to return within 60 days with additional documentation to clarify the corporate ownership/transfer questions raised by the public. Commissioners indicated they would review progress during the next annual report cycle and monitor implementation of the company’s weed‑control plan.

The county’s action is procedural and geared to ensure the permit holder meets written conditions; it does not cancel the permit. Blue Triton representatives said they will implement the contracted weed‑removal work and cooperate with county staff on the requested ownership clarification. The board’s probationary finding carries the expectation of documented remediation rather than an immediate punitive sanction.