Round Mountain Water proposes to spread sewage sludge on local ranch

Location for up to 375 tons of “biosolids” sits within one mile of Grape Creek south of Cliffs

In 1969, the Cuyahoga River near Cleveland, Ohio, caught fire. It turned out that the open dumping into the water of factory and city wastes had made the river so polluted that a spark allowed a fire to burn on the surface of the river for thirty minutes. This had happened over a dozen times before, but it was this event that pushed the modern environmental movement into a higher gear, and it prompted President Richard Nixon’s Administration to create the Environmental Protection Agency and the Clean Water Act of 1972.

(Featured photo cutline: The Johnson Ranch with the Season Macey Creek streambed running through the pastures that Round Mountain Water and Sanitation District Proposes to spread sewage sludge this year. – Tribune photo by Jordan Hedberg)

Much of that act focused on making sure that wastewater was not being dumped into streams and rivers, which included the tiny towns of Westcliffe and Silver Cliff. The population of Custer County in 1970 was at a century low of just 1,120 people and only 400 people living within the towns. The water systems in the towns were cobbled together from private wells and exposed mine shafts.

The federal government granted money for the newly formed Round Mountain Water and Sanitation District to build a wastewater treatment plant in its current location northwest of Westcliffe. However, 53 years later, a new wastewater treatment plant needs to be built, and for that process to start this summer, 30 years of sewage sludge needs to be cleaned from the ponds.

This sludge, when removed and mixed by professional companies, is often spread on fields as a form of fertilizer. The sludge is called “biosolids” by the companies that clean out the lagoons. According to Round Mountain Water and Sanitation District, this cleaning process has long been delayed, and it is possible that it has been 30 years since the last time this process occurred.

On March 6, the company that was hired by Round Mountain Water and Sanitation District, Denali Water Systems, filed an application with the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment to take the biosolids from the lagoons and spread them on a property south of Westcliffe over 150 acres of dry grazing ground for fertilizer. The land was actually owned by Round Mountain Water and Sanitation District until 2022. This land was known locally as the Johnson Ranch and was purchased by Round Mountain Water and Sanitation District in 2000 so that the water district could have the water rights and use them for the towns. The land was sold in 2022 for $1.5 million to an Illinios industrial chicken egg farmer, Joseph Kropf who has a house in Pueblo.

The application for the spraying of the biosolids asks the state for permission to spray 150 acres of the 350 acres of land with “2.5 tons of biosolids per acre.” This fertilizer could be used for hay crops or winter wheat according to the application. Included in the report is a list of the nutrients and metals found in the sludge that was tested by Midwest Laboratories based in Fort Lupton, Colorado. All of the nutrients and metals fall within limits acceptable for use as fertilizers.

However, the location of the property created a series of questions for neighbors and members of the public. The land has the seasonal Macey Creek running right through the middle of the pastures, and Grape Creek inlet to Macey Creek is only one mile away, with parts of Grape Creek less than 2,000 feet from where the area would be sprayed with the sludge. In addition, this area is often sub-irrigated by the water table during the spring runoff. Most of the areas that are proposed to be sprayed are only three feet from the water table, and in the spring, the water table often rises to the surface depending on the snowpack.

Another concern is that the sludge will not be tilled into the ground, and neighbors worry that any significant rain event will sweep the sprayed sludge into the creek and poison the watershed.

The Tribune asked Round Mountain District Manager Dave Schneider about the location and method of spraying. He stated, “Typical methods of sludge application are to either inject slurry into the ground or to surface apply with a ‘honey wagon’ that has a bar sprayer set about two feet above the ground. They will be surface applying the slurry as most of the application area is untilled grazeland, that is too rough for injection methods. They will maintain a 50 foot setback from any stream, building, or road.”

Further, when questioned if he was worried about the proximity of the creek he, explained, “I am less concerned about the potential negative effects of the land application of sludge as I am concerned of the negative effects of the currently socially-accepted pollution caused by the unrestrained fertilizing of hay lands located in low and wet areas along with the defecating, urinating, and streambank erosion damage caused by livestock. The number one pollutant of the water ways in the US is caused by soil erosion. The slurry application should have the best chance to infiltrate into the ground on this property due to the low chance of stream runoff caused by flood irrigation.”

Denali Water Solutions was recently fined for not applying the sludge correctly in California and Arizona. On November 12, 2024, the Environmental Protection Agency announced that Denali Water Solutions had to pay $610,000 in fines for alleged illegal sewage sludge application. According to the report, “Biosolids are regulated by EPA under the federal Clean Water Act. Pursuant to the regulations, biosolids producers and land appliers are required to collect pollution data on biosolids before applying it to land, and land appliers are required to apply biosolids at a rate that limits the amount of nitrogen to what the crop or vegetation can utilize.”

Additional comments in the report stated, “The EPA says that since at least 2016, Denali repeatedly land-applied sewage sludge to farm fields in Arizona and southern California at levels that exceeded the nitrogen needs of the crops in those fields and repeatedly failed to obtain the information necessary to determine the correct amount of sewage sludge to apply. Such alleged violations can lead to nitrogen and other pollutants migrating to groundwater or running off into nearby surface waters.”

The application in Custer County proposes up to 2.5 tonnes of sludge per acre that is often dry or nearly dry ground. Colorado State University (CSU) Agricultural Extension Office only recommends 80-100 pounds of fertilizer per acre for hay crops that have a single cutting. As for dryland grasses, CSU does not suggest that fertilizer be used on dryland grasses as the risk of runoff is high, “Generally, nitrogen is not recommended for establishment of perennial dryland grasses. In Colorado, the uncertainty of rainfall events following seeding can result in significant losses of the applied N under dryland conditions, especially urea. More importantly, any additional nitrogen tends to stimulate weeds, which compete more effectively for the small amount of soil moisture that is generally available. In some cases, residual soil nitrogen may be high enough that weeds become too competitive for successful grass establishment.”
Denali Water Solution’s proposal of pounds of sludge per acre is 25 times more than what hay ranchers typically apply to hay crops. This apparent over-application of sludge is what caused the EPA to fine and ban Denali Water Solutions from spreading sludge in California and Arizona.

Further, the sludge from the Round Mountain Water lagoon ponds has not been treated. The application to the Colorado Department of Public Health indicates that only anaerobic fermentation has been used, which is not enough to remove forever chemicals, pharmaceutical residues, and other pollutants. The State Public Health office also stated that Denali Water Solutions has not filed a forever chemicals (PFAS) report yet, though the state is not sure that this is required. Round Mountain Water District Manager Dave Schneider states that Denali has tested for the chemicals and will send them to the Tribune next week.

The application process for this spraying is still in the early stages of approval, and it likely has to be first approved by the State, with the EPA signing off on the report. If the process passes that point, the Custer County Planning and Zoning Board will consider the matter as it would require a Special Use Permit, and ultimately, the three members of the Board of County Commissioners will have the final vote.

The Board of County Commissioners has called a special meeting on Thursday, March 27, at 5 p.m. to let the public hear a presentation by Denali Water Systems.

– Jordan Hedberg