Highlands Wastewater Treatment Facility Elimination
PAWSD has received over $9.3 million in federal economic stimulus funding for a large wastewater capital project that is in an advanced stage of design: the elimination of the Highlands Wastewater Treatment Facility (WWTF). Phase 1 of the project broke ground on September 30, 2009 and Phase 2 broke ground on February 12, 2010. To every extent possible given federal and state regulations associated with the funding, all work on the project has been kept local.
Click HERE for Phase 1 groundbreaking photos and press release!
Click HERE for Phase 2 groundbreaking photos and press release!
The existing Highlands WWTF is located on N Pagosa Blvd, just south of the Highlands and Hatcher subdivisions. It was constructed in the 1970s as an unlined aerated lagoon system to serve the Highlands portion of the District. The facilities include an influent lift station, two aerated lagoons, a polishing pond, a blower building and a chlorine contact chamber. The effluent is discharged into an unnamed tributary to Martinez Creek, which flows into the Piedra River Sub-Basin and then the San Juan and Dolores River Basins.
Project Description
The Highlands facility will be decommissioned and the wastewater from that portion of the District will be conveyed down to the existing Vista WWTP, located on the PAWSD campus at 100 Lyn Ave. The site of the exisitng facility will be filled and reclaimed for another use although that use is yet to be determined.
Click here for information on the bid award for this project.
Why Eliminate This Facility?
1. Age and Compliance: Due to its age, the facility was not originally built to meet current, tighter state and federal effluent regulations. Therefore, the compliance history reported on the monthly Discharge Monitoring Reports (DMR’s) includes exceedance violations for hydraulic, effluent BOD5, percent removal, effluent fecal coliform and E. Coli. The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment has required PAWSD to be in compliance with the new ammonia limitations by March 13, 2013. This compliance schedule requires either the construction of a new mechanical wastewater treatment plant or the conveyance of the wastewater to the existing Vista WWTP.
2. Capacity Limitations: As stated above, the existing facility is currently hydraulically and organically under capacity for the SFE Units it is servicing. It cannot accommodate the build-out continuing to occur in its service area, the SFE Units that PAWSD is obligated to service. The PAWSD Board placed a moratorium in 2006 on new inclusions to the Highlands facility service area.
Benefits of Project.
This Project is a “Green Infrastructure” Project.
First, the proposed decommissioning of the existing Highlands Lagoon WWTF and conveyance of the wastewater to the Vista WWTP will provide significant public health and environmental benefits. These benefits include:
- Source water protection: Elimination of effluent from human downstream uses that currently does not meet state regulations for ammonia limitations and fecal coliform bacteria.
- Wildlife protection: Elimination of effluent from fish and wildlife habitat that currently does not meet state regulations for ammonia limitations and fecal coliform bacteria.
- Compliance with the Colorado Water Quality Control Act: The existing facility is currently in violation of the CWQC Act.
- Habitat restoration: Degradation of habitat associated with regulatory effluent violations will cease, allowing the stream ecosystem to be restored to pre-violation conditions.
In addition, the new lift stations and upgrades to the Vista WWTP required by decommissioning the Highlands facility will be designed to incorporate renewable energy, such as solar energy, wherever possible.
Also, the Vista WWTP will produce more biosolid waste as a result of receiving the Highlands wastewater. Rather than continuing the current practice of disposing of the biosolids in the County landfill, the biosolids that will be produced will allow other disposal options such as composting to be studied due to the increased volume and economy of scale.
Finally, for water conservation and public education, the Vista WWTP uses reclaimed wastewater for irrigation of plants and grass on the PAWSD campus. With an increase in wastewater from Highlands, this system can be expanded and more highly utilized.
