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<br /> <br />he North Fork <br />.aIMES <br /> <br />Mayor's react to EPA laws <br /> <br />By' Phil EUs'Wortb <br />SlallWr~er <br />Paonia Mayor James Gall said <br />the town's water supply consistent- <br />ly ranks among the state's best and <br />the town's going broke proving it. <br />In a letter to Ann Cole of the <br />Environmental PrOtection Agency <br />(EPA), Gall outlincd some of the <br />regulations curremly putting the <br />squeeze on the town's budgct. <br />Cole, the small communities <br />coordinator for the EPA, had askcd <br />for comments about thc regulatory <br />impact on communities. <br />Gall said the new Safe Drinking <br />Watcr Act could force the town to <br />construct a $430,000 water treat- <br />ment faCility and a $500,000 <br />wastewater facility, not to mention <br />the associated costs of maimenance <br />and testing. <br />"The worst problem is that the <br />regulations seem to us to be contin- <br />ually changing," hc said. <br />By the time new facilitics con- <br />forming to one set of regulations <br />are built, the regulations are outdat- <br />ed and rcplaced by a ncw set of <br />rules, he added. <br />Hotchkiss Mayor John Neill <br />also responded to Cole's request for <br />comment. <br />"The EPA is requiring us to fix <br />what is not broken. This includes <br />having to over-filter our water, <br />conduct numerous tests for sub- <br />Slances that arc not prescnt, Qver- <br />chlorinate drinking water, continu- <br />ally monitor turbidity and chlorina- <br />tion content, and volumes in and <br />out of sewage lagoons, all without <br /> <br />any beneficial results," Neill said. <br />Hotchkiss discharges its efiluent <br />into the North Fork of the Gunni- <br />son River. where he said the aquat- <br />ic life is healthy and maintains <br />"some of the best trout fishing in <br />Colorado. " <br />"We arc going to be required to <br />build a bigger pond and, with great <br />expense, line the bottom of this <br />pond so we do not contaminate the <br />ground water. This is an expensive <br />joke." <br />Neill added that any leakage <br />from the ponds would go into the <br />river and not affect any other <br />town's drinking supply. <br />After Hotchkiss reccived a <br />notice of "serious noncompliance" <br />last year, town officials sought aid <br />through grams from impact funds <br />but were turncd down. <br />Now the town is bcginning a <br />$3,500 feasibility study which <br />Neill said could make the town eli- <br />gible for future grants. <br />Discharge permits must be <br />renewed every five years. Gall said <br />when Paonia applies for a new one, <br />it gets a new set of rules also. <br />"For example, about five years <br />ago the permit included more strin- <br />gent chlorination requirements and <br />construction of new facilities at a <br />cost of about $20;000." <br />After the chlorination require- <br />ments reduced the plant's capacity <br />the town was instructed to compen- <br />sate by increasing the capacity of <br />the plant. <br />Gall said the increase in capaci- <br />ty cost the town $60,000. When the <br /> <br />Colorado Department of Health <br />issued a permit for the increased <br />capacity, the permit required the <br />town to monitor weekly for an <br />ammonia limit. If the amount of <br />ammonia exceeds allowable levels, <br />the town could be forced to con- <br />struct an entirely new facility cost- <br />ing over $1 million. <br />"At the very least, the town <br />should have been told that an <br />ammonia limit was a consideration <br />when the 1987 facilities plan was <br />being completed," Gall said. <br />Although many of the regula' <br />tions come from the Colorado <br />Water Quality Control Commis- <br />sion, most actions by the slate are <br />dictated by the EPA, he noted. <br />Crawford Mayor James Crook <br />said a town with a population of <br />less than 300 people shouldn't have <br />See EPA. Pace !l <br /> <br />001 'l41 <br />