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SPOTLIGHT ON THE TOWN OF DOVE CREEK By Fred Hand CRWA Wastewater Technician As the Wastewater Technician for the State of Colorado, I've no- ticed that the majority of Colorado wastewater treatment systems in our state are operated well. We can proudly say we are doing a good job protecting the environment. There are many systems that deserve to be recognized and I would like to highlight one of the small towns in our state that excels in water and wastewater treatment, and prepara- Fred tion for its future needs. Its a small town that hasn't been ruined by rap- id growth, rising real estate values and swarms of SUV's crowding the streets. It has a peaceful, down -to -earth agriculturally based atmosphere. In fact, beans are the town's main agricultural prod- uct, and it is known for being one of the few places the Anasazi bean (a bean grown by the ancient Anasazi peoples who once lived in the area) is produced. Dove Creek was established in 1939 and is located 22 miles North of Cortez on Highway 666 in Dolores County. It has a popu- lation of 700, with 490 water taps, and once produced Uranium from the 1950's thru the 80's. The first thing that impressed me with Dove Creek was its excellent wastewater treatment lagoon system built in 2000. The town's old,two -cell lagoon system was having trouble staying in compliance. Realizing the need for improvement, Irvin, (Sonny) Frazier, the Town Administrator, and Doug Stowe, the Chief Wa- ter and Wastewater Operator, started researching a better way to treat their wastewater. After getting ideas from surrounding towns and conferring with Dick Bowman from the Colorado Department of Health, they were impressed with Dick's idea of combining a fermentation pit with constructed wetlands into a lagoon system. This sounded like a good cost - effective alterna- tive to building a high maintenance, high cost, mechanical treat- ment plant, which a small town usually can't afford. They needed financing and were able to qualify for a grant through the Water Pollution Control Revolving Fund. It required the town to provide 20% matching funds,which they had in their capital improvement fund. Sonny said it took a year for the new system to produce a rea- sonably good effluent. But after 2 years of operation they noticed 8 an even g reater treatment efficiency. Doug said it took thal for the fermentation pit to build an adequate bug populatio the wetland to fill in with a thick mat of cattails. Those c� are from Montana, by the way. They wanted them well sui our Colorado cold climate. Dove Creek may not be the c( spot in Colorado, but it's not the warmest either. It's a� wintertime temperatures are 28 degrees F. Below is a list months of effluent data to show you just how well it wor! Month BOD TSS %Removal January 8.7 48 99% February 4.5 21 99% March 4.5 12.7 99% April 2.1 12.3 99% May 1.8 13 99% June 1.7 6.2 99% July 3.8 5.3 99% August 2.7 8.5 99% September 3.6 8.2 99% October 3.1 35.2 99% Another impressive element is the town's resolve to ously build their capital improvement fund for futur Sonny recommends laying aside 5 -10% for the fund, actually able to put 11.5% into their fund last year. TI portant because it was only 1 year later that an upgra, water treatment plant was needed. The town qualified f Drinking Water Revolving Fund Grant, this time matcl with moneys from their capital improvement fund.Witl- sewer rates of $9.00 and water rates of $18.00, having ti matching funds available is admerable. This was back were grants commonly available. Today's world doe money so freely. If you want capital today, low inte are normally what's available. This may mean that logy utility rates are a thing of the past. The average mon rate for Colorado is around $16 to $20 per month. 1 the Town of Dove Creekto raise rates and still be low( Colorado monthly average. The town installed a new, Nepune brand,directwat plant with upflow clarifier in 2001. They purposefully building larger than necessary, along with blind flang connecting another, equally sized filter with the curr They are also aware that the new turbidity limits and byproduct rules may require additional funding for Doug has informed me that they are ready - -the fun able in their capital improvement fund. I asked So ing all this money in the capital improvement fund other areas of concern from funding. He said yes,th sidewalks and parks improvement do sometimes I New parks and sidewalks are nice, but if I were a resi( Creek, I would be happy and thankful that the nec of water treatment and environmental protection t priorities, and that my water and sewer rates are stil lowest in the state.