As the Governor-designated Water Quality Management Agency for the Cherry Creek Reservoir watershed, CCBWQA reviews site applications for domestic wastewater treatment works, including Wastewater treatment facilities (WWTFs), lift stations, and interceptor sewers. CCBWQA reviews address protection of Cherry Creek Reservoir and the watershed with respect to phosphorus and nitrogen, general water quality, protection of downstream water quality to protect water supplies, and adequacy of proposed design processes and capacity to protect water quality. As required by Regulation 72, CCBWQA must report annually on approved site applications.

In 2022, four Site Location Applications were reviewed by CCBWQA.

Pinery Commercial District No. 1 submitted a Site Location Application for a new lift station to serve a new development just to the northwest of the intersection of N. Pinery Parkway and Parker Rd. The new development will be an industrial park consisting of 38.9 acres with estimated building footprints with a total area of 269,000 square feet, estimated to be fully built out in 5-7 years. The new lift station will be a 134-gpm duplex station which will pump through a new 4-inch diameter 1,850-foot-long PVC force main, which will discharge into an 8” gravity sewer where the wastewater will be conveyed to the Pinery WWTF for ultimate treatment.

Sunset Point Development submitted a Site Location Application for a new lift station to serve the Sunset Point development located about 3.5 miles east of Interstate 25 and E. Wolfensberger Road, in the Town of Castle Rock. Sunset Point is a 293-acre development that offers 525 single-family residential units. The new lift station will be a 400-gpm duplex station which will pump through a new 5,125-foot long 6” PVC force main to discharge the proposed flows into an existing manhole in Mitchell St. where the sewage will flow by gravity through a siphon to the Mitchell Creek Lift Station that is owned and operated by Castle Rock Water. The Mitchell Creek Lift Station discharges into the Town of Castle Rock’s gravity system, which then ultimately discharges into the Plum Creek Wastewater Reclamation Facility for treatment.

Vermilion Creek Metropolitan District (VCMD) submitted a Site Location Application for a new 230,000 gpd membrane bioreactor wastewater treatment plant that would discharge to Cherry Creek. VCMD is a new special district formed to service the Vermilion Creek development, which is in the City of Centennial. The area is currently undeveloped and is not within the boundary of an existing wastewater utility service area. VCMD is proposing to construct a collection system and the wastewater treatment facility specifically for the Vermilion Creek development.

DirecTv submitted an application for Site Location Approval for the DirecTV WWTP for a decrease in capacity to less than 2,000 gpd. The facility is remotely located at 5454 Garton Road, in Castle Rock, 10 miles southeast of the center of the town of Castle Rock. This treatment facility is an OWTS that has been operating since 1993 with a Colorado Department of Health permitted design capacity of 3,500 gpd average maximum month daily flow under permit number COX634042. The treatment system consists of three septic tanks operated in series, a dosing tank, and a total of eight leach fields. The original system was designed to support a staff of 200 employees on-site, but since its inception, a combination of changes in broadcast technology and remote-working employee philosophies promulgated during the COVID-19 outbreak has reduced the on-site staff requirements down to 15-30 employees. Subsequently, the production of wastewater from the facility that is required to be treated has dropped to below 2000 gpd maximum month average day flows. These levels of employees and wastewater production are expected to remain well into the future. The decrease in capacity to a flow less than 2000 gpd would change jurisdiction from CDPHE to the Douglas County Health Department.