Brief by Allen Best
Environment – June 2003 – Colorado Central Magazine
It may not be what a community ultimately wants to be known for, but Crested Butte will soon share its sewage with Leadville.
Crested Butte has had ongoing problems with odors from its sewage treatment plant since it installed ATAD treatment technology two years ago. That’s no surprise — in the mid-1990s similar technology was adopted for a treatment plant in the Vail Valley after directors returned from a trip to Europe raving about how efficient the system is. But it seems to be like a wobbly operating system on a computer. Get it right, and it’s wonderful. Otherwise, it creates a big stink.
“It appears to be very sophisticated technology, but it requires high levels of maintenance, specialized filtering beds, and some additional scrubbers that were not originally installed for optimum performance,” explains Frank Bell, Crested Butte’s town manager. “Without the additional scrubbers, ATAD is not overly effective against sulfide based emissions, thus there is a prevailing odor.”
In Crested Butte’s eastside, where the town’s sewage treatment plant is located, the stink is becoming more than an annoyance. That area is essentially the only place where the town can grow. Among the planned projects — in a subdivision that is ironically called Paradise Park, after a geographic area in the nearby Elk Range — is affordable housing.
“I suppose one could use the axiom that if you don’t like the noise of airplanes, don’t move in next to the airport, but we really have no other area in which to expand the town,” observes Bell. “Moving the sewer plant is not an option as that would cause more environmental problems than we already have.”
The solution, at least in the short term, is what Bell describes as “perhaps the ultimate of reverse pollution.” For about the same price as it costs to operate the sewer system during the next year, the town is paying a contractor to haul the sewage to Leadville. There, it is to be processed, and the sludge is to be spread on the giant mine tailings left by the Climax Molybdenum Mine. The cost to Crested Butte for the twice-monthly hauls is estimated at $40,000.
Crested Butte officials intend to use the year to examine their options. Modifications to make the ATAD technology work is expected to cost $300,000 or so. Part of Crested Butte’s problem is figuring out how to pay for it.
This story also has an odd and perhaps coarse symbolism. The recipient of Crested Butte’s sludge will be the vast Climax tailings, which are being revegetated. The tailings are located at the headwaters of the river drainages that serve both resort areas.
John Norton, chief operating officer of Crested Butte Mountain Resort, was recruited last year from Aspen to revive the flagging ski resort. Part of his strategy has been to make unflattering comparisons between the “I-70 retirement villages,” and the Crested Butte area — while less obviously trying to ape the demographics of the bigger resorts and hence their business success. But, with this latest twist, it can be said that Norton is truly dumping on his competition.
–Allen Best