Plum Creek wastewater authority warns permit backlog stalling expansions, highlights reuse and biosolids program

Plum Creek Water Reclamation Authority officials told the Douglas County Water Commission on a webinar that the plant has completed a physical expansion but has not received a formal permit to reflect the increased capacity, leaving the facility operating under an administratively extended permit since 2017.

"Our permit has been administratively extended since 2017, to which we're really trying very hard to get a new updated permit," said Weston Martin, authority manager at Plum Creek Water Reclamation Authority. He told the commission the facility’s permitted capacity is currently 6.44 million gallons per day and that an expansion in 2022 increased the plant’s treatment capability by about 3,000,000 gallons, but that no new permit has been issued to authorize the increased capacity.

The missing permit carries operational and planning risks for growth in the authority’s service area, which the authority said serves Castle Rock and the…