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Fremont County commissioners opt out of state graywater program, bar graywater use countywide
Summary
The Fremont County Board of County Commissioners approved Resolution No. 6, Series 2025, formally opting out of Colorado's graywater control program and prohibiting graywater use within the county, citing lack of local capacity for permitting and enforcement.
Fremont County's Board of County Commissioners voted to adopt Resolution No. 6, Series 2025, opting out of Colorado's graywater control program and prohibiting the use of graywater within Fremont County.
County Attorney Eric Bellas told the board that the state law and implementing regulations establishing the graywater control program would require the county to carry out permitting, monitoring, licensing and enforcement that Fremont County cannot perform with existing staff. "Fremont County does not have the capacity within any existing department," Bellas said, adding that implementing the program locally would amount to an unfunded mandate.
Bellas described the statutory framework the legislature adopted last year, saying the law allows various uses for graywater ' including outdoor agricultural uses and some indoor reuse ' but requires local jurisdictions that participate to develop programs to oversee design, permitting and ongoing monitoring. "Because we don't have the capacity within any of our departments to adopt the necessary monitoring and control that is required to enable the use of gray water, we are, by this resolution, opting out of the program simply because we don't have the capacity to monitor, permit, license, enforce, those sorts of things," Bellas said.
Commissioners moved and seconded the resolution during the meeting. Roll-call votes were recorded as follows: Commissioner Bell ' Aye; Commissioner McFall ' Aye; Commissioner Grantham ' Aye. The motion carried.
The resolution prohibits graywater use countywide unless the county later reverses the action. The county attorney said the decision reflects staffing and funding constraints common to many rural counties and that, at the scale expected in Fremont County, the program could not fund its own oversight.
The board did not adopt any implementation plan for graywater use; the action recorded was a formal opt-out. Commissioners and staff did not identify a timeline or funding plan to revisit the decision during the meeting.
