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Durango wastewater-plant repair deadline extends

City gets six more years to meet new rules
John Sandhaus, Durango wastewater-treatment plant superintendent, stands in front of a basin where water is purified. The aging plant is in need of $55 million in upgrades.

The Durango wastewater-treatment plant will not have to make millions of dollars worth of improvements by 2017 to meet new clean water guidelines, after negotiations with the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.

While all the estimated $55 million upgrades will have to be made, the state health department agreed to extend the city’s deadline until 2023, City Manager Ron LeBlanc announced Tuesday night.

As a result, the city will be able to rethink its steep 2015 sewer-rate increases. City Council had been told the plant would need 80 percent more revenue in 2015 to fund all the needed projects and to finance a bond issue.

“The pressure to rush to an 80 percent increase has now been alleviated,” LeBlanc said.

Under the law, if the wastewater-treatment plant did not meet all the new regulations by December 2017, the plant would face consent order. Under this order, the city would not be allowed to issue more sewer taps and could face hefty fines.

Under the extension, the city will have to adhere to a schedule to come into compliance and limit the amount of phosphorous and nitrogen in the water. These two chemicals need to be reduced to curb imbalances in the environment.

Also, the city now will have more time to consider potentially relocating the plant further south away from town or another location. Councilor Christina Rinderle has been encouraging her peers to consider this alternative.

“It’s an opportunity to really think through these major investments,” LeBlanc said.

Alternative sewer-rate increases will be discussed next week.

mshinn@durangoherald.com

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