CB South starts wastewater treatment plant expansion

New plant will more than double district’s capacity

The effort to expand the Crested Butte South wastewater treatment plant is under way, with heavy equipment moving dirt and pumps removing water to prepare the site next to the East River for construction.

The plan to expand the facility got its start almost two years ago, with the planning and engineering phase, but the subdivision just got the approval from the state on May 5 to start the project, according to Jack Dietrich, Crested Butte South Metropolitan District manager. Property owners can expect to see an increase in their water and sewer bill of about $18 a month until the loan is paid off.
During the peak of last year’s runoff, the amount of water entering the plant for treatment was almost 80 percent of the plant’s capacity. State regulations require that the Metropolitan District start engineering an expansion before reaching 80 percent of capacity. Construction must start before the plant reaches 90 percent capacity.
Currently, the plant can treat 100,000 gallons of effluent a day. When the expansion is complete it will more than double its capacity, to as much as 225,000 gallons.
Although the plant reached 80 percent capacity only briefly last year with the combination of household discharge and groundwater, it is only a matter of time before this happens with more consistency.
The subdivision now has about 600 homes hooked up to its wastewater treatment system and there is room in the subdivision for at least another 600 units. Dietrich says even after Crested Butte South reaches full build-out, there shouldn’t be a need to pursue a future expansion at the plant.
After the “full and open bid process,” required for the Crested Butte South Metropolitan District to have access to the state’s revolving loan fund, Dietrich says contractor Moltz Construction from Salida was hired to build the expansion, which could take as long as a year to complete.
The district originally expected the cost of the project to be around $1.8 million, but after the final engineering and construction estimate was completed that amount was revised to $2.1 million. In order to deal with any contingencies that might pop up during the process, the district has been approved to take as much as $2.3 million from the state fund.
The user fees and taxes that will be assessed on members of the Crested Butte South Property Owners Association will not go up any more than the original plan called for, Dietrich says. “[The expansion] won’t have any effect on residents of Crested Butte South, only that we raised our service fees to cover it.”
Crested Butte South property owners will have to pay an additional $9 for water and $9 for sewer per month to pay for the expansion.
Treating the wastewater at the Crested Butte South facility involves a process called activated sludge, where microorganisms, namely bacteria, fungi and others, convert the waste into food for growth. The byproducts are treated water and carbon dioxide.
The expansion will also include an odor control system called BIOREM that treats the different gases produced by the various phases of wastewater treatment.
Dietrich said there should be no disruption in services as a result of the construction. He only asks that people stay out of the construction tape that surrounds the site. If the boundary to the construction site is respected, the district will continue to leave the grassy area next to the East River open to the public.
“If anyone gets into construction site we’ll close down whole site,” he says. “When we have a big hole out there, we can’t have people running around it.”