Red Feather committee takes hard look at water issues

By Linda Bell
Correspondent

Water, water all around, but not a drop to drink! That was one of the cautionary conclusions found by the Red Feather Lakes Planning Advisory Committee as it spent two months wrestling with the complicated water issues facing the community now and into the future.

At October and November meetings, the PAC looked at the close interrelationships between surface water, groundwater and wastewater in the planning area. All agreed the most pressing responsibility is protecting the lakes, as they define the quality of life in the unincorporated village.

According to PAC member Dennis Frydendall, president of Red Feather Storage and Irrigation, Colorado law states the first water right is for domestic use, then agriculture, then industrial. He said in time the lakes might become vulnerable to appropriation by domestic use claims downstream if they are not seen to be providing any domestic use within Red Feather Lakes, as is stated in the beneficial use decree guaranteeing the company's water rights. Fish propagation and recreation are the main beneficial uses being exercised by the company at present, he said.

Frydendall said about the only domestic use the company can prove is that some shallow wells near the lakes fall off with the lake levels over summer and fall. Then in the spring, when the lakes fill, the wells top up again, he said.

Along with concern about maintaining water rights, the PAC addressed the broader worry of the possibility of wastewater contamination seeping through groundwater, putting both lakes and area wells at risk. If the lakes become polluted, then recreational use ends, Frydendall said.

According to a report on existing conditions prepared by the Larimer County Department of Health and Environment, 49 percent of the planning area has conventional sewer/septic systems, 36 percent has sealed vaults that require more frequent pumping, and 15 percent has privy vaults (outhouses), usually made of concrete. Two locations within the planning area, Fox Acres and High Country Estates, have their own community water treatment and waste systems.

A disclaimer in the document points out that county permits for septic systems were not required before the late 1960s, and installations built prior to that date do not have permits unless updated or repaired. Plus, many PAC members acknowledged, a significant percentage of the vaults are no longer sealed.

The report also stated: "Many of the lots were platted prior to zoning and subdivision standards, and are too small to accommodate wells and conventional septic systems. Continued pressure for more intense development in the 'downtown' area, the conversion of many cabins to year-round use, or a building boom on the remaining vacant small lots would present significant challenges for maintaining safe water and sewer systems."

Frydendall and other committee members stressed that what the community needs now is hard data to understand if there is well contamination from groundwater runoff through wastewater systems. He said that the lakes are fuller than ever because of new pipeline, but weeds have been increasing, probably due to contamination from phosphorus in laundry detergent.

At the October meeting, County Commissioner Kathay Rennels said if there is enough consensus within the Red Feather Lakes community to ask the county for help getting some kind of water system in place, the county would likely respond with up-front money that could be paid back by a water district over many years. "But you have to ask," she said. Rennels noted there might also be some grant money available to smaller communities for water quality issues.

Ed Schemm, assistant for environmental health in the Larimer County Health Department, said the county can't force the community to do anything about its water problems because it is private water, not public, except for the two community systems that are regulated by the EPA through county administration.

As an outcome of the meetings, the PAC requested the county help them with a voluntary well water-monitoring program in selected areas of the community, which could provide some quantifiable rather than anecdotal data on water quality.