Nearly $86 million in federal funding to help Colorado communities with the daunting task of removing so-called “forever chemicals” from their drinking water systems has begun flowing this spring, but whether it will go far enough to do all the cleanup work remains unclear.
Small Colorado communities are scrambling to find ways to remove the toxic PFAS compounds that wash into water from such things as Teflon, firefighting foam, and waterproof cosmetics.
Thanks to the infusion of federal money this year, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment is offering grants to help with cleanup costs. But word of the Emerging Contaminants in Small and Disadvantaged Communities Grant Program, as it is known, has been slow to spread, Colorado public health officials said. That’s, in part, because the problem is still being understood and remedies are still being studied.
“Emerging contaminant funding is relatively new. Many communities are still determining if they have a project they may need to request funding for,” state health department spokesman John Michael said in an email.
Just four communities had applied as of late March 2024: South Adams Water and Sanitation District in Commerce City; City of La Junta; Louviers Water and Sanitation District in Douglas County; and Wigwam Mutual Water Company in Fountain.
Each year for the next five years, the state will offer two rounds of grants, with millions of dollars committed. The next grant cycle opens in July, according to Michael.
And this year, the EPA is expected to finalize the first PFAS drinking water treatment standard, which will require utilities to remove the contaminant at levels above 4 parts per trillion. Prior to this, federal oversight of the contaminants was advisory, meaning utilities were not technically required to remove it. The advisory rule was set at 70 parts per trillion.
Still, many water providers have been testing and monitoring for the compounds for several years. But for small communities lacking such resources, the costs and stakes are high.
The South Adams County Water and Sanitation District, which serves Commerce City and unincorporated parts of Adams County, has been hard-hit by PFAS contamination in its groundwater wells. Where the toxins have come from isn’t entirely known, but sources could include firefighting foam used nearby at a firefighting academy owned by the City of Denver.
When PFAS was first detected in 2018, the Adams County district shut down its most contaminated wells, built an expensive filtration system, and bought water from Denver Water to dilute its water sources enough so that PFAS could no longer be detected.
It also built a cutting-edge testing lab, so that it can know within 24 hours whether its extensive treatment system is working and respond immediately if it is not.
But that isn’t enough. This year it will begin building a new $80 million treatment plant, $30 million of which will come from the new state grant program. It has also been approved for a special $30 million loan from the Colorado Water Resources and Power Development Authority. It is still pursuing additional funding to minimize the amount it will have to seek from its customers to help cover the costs, according to Abel Moreno, the district’s manager.
“It’s absolutely critical that we find another source of funding,” Moreno says. “We don’t believe the contamination was caused by our ratepayers, and we do not believe they should be asked to pay for it.”
This story originally appeared in Fresh Water News.
Jerd Smith is editor of Fresh Water News.
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