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 Castle Pines and Castle Pines North metro districts and about 109,000 people. Martin said administratively extended permits effectively freeze permits: utilities can’t increase capacity, change processes or make other regulated modifications until an updated permit is issued. If the plant exceeds hydraulic or biological loading limits in its existing permit, Martin said that would constitute a violation, although the state division sometimes exercises enforcement discretion.

The authority highlighted its reuse and biosolids programs while explaining the operational context. Martin said the plant provides treated effluent to four local golf courses — Red Hawk Golf Club, Castle Pines Country Club, Castle Pines Golf Club and The Ridge at Castle Pines — and that those courses rely heavily on reuse water. "Pretty much all of their demand is met with this water," he said of some courses. The authority also reported hauling about 4,712 tons of biosolids to the eastern plains for beneficial agricultural reuse.

Commissioners and participants pressed staff about the regulatory backlog. Martin described statewide permit-processing delays that CDPHE and the division have attributed to staffing and resource constraints and said proposed nutrient and temperature requirements (including Regulation 31 items) have been deferred, complicating permit drafting and issuance. He said the division has issued relatively few individual permits in recent years and that the backlog affects a broad set of utilities across Colorado.

The commission and attendees discussed options, including using private engineers to prepare permit submittals for the division to review and leaning on legislative and federal engagement. Martin said the Wastewater Utility Council — a membership organization of utilities — is shifting its organizational status to enable lobbying and more direct advocacy, and that the council is pursuing coordination with CDPHE, the EPA and lawmakers to address the backlog.

Commission members also asked about the authority’s industrial pretreatment program and biosolids controls. Martin said the authority inspects and monitors roughly 60 dental offices, breweries and other industrial dischargers and enforces grease and pretreatment standards to protect workers and the collection system and to reduce the risk of sanitary sewer overflows.

The commission did not take any formal action on the presentation; staff were asked to note the discussion and consider whether the county should elevate the permitting backlog to the board of county commissioners for potential legislative outreach or other coordination.

Martin and several commissioners urged utilities to continue coordinated advocacy to press CDPHE and the EPA for more staffing and a workable permitting path for utilities that have completed expansions but lack updated permits.