Recently, with gold shovels in hand, the Board of Directors, along with the Purgatory Metro District team, held a small ground-breaking ceremony to celebrate the beginning of this exciting and long-awaited project. With that, the project to construct the Purgatory Metro District Waste Water Treatment Facility, which will be fully self-contained and the most start-of-the-art facility of its kind in Colorado, began.

The project will consist of constructing a new Aerobic Granular Sludge (AGS) treatment facility that includes a fine screen, aerobic sludge storage/digestion basin, and an influent equalization basin. The AGS process will produce high-quality effluent, meet all current effluent standards, and be capable of meeting future nutrient removal standards.

The new site is next to the snowmaking facility, resort storage area, and winter sand storage. As part of the new site, the community park will be enlarged to provide a buffer between the facilities and adjacent landowners. Additionally, locating the WWTF in a consolidated facility zone will reduce disturbance to the existing landscape and habitat due to a lessened need for infrastructure (roads, piping, etc.).

With guidance from La Plata County and La Plata Electric Association, construction officially began by clearing the site of the existing trees, many of which had succumbed to bark beetles. The living trees cut down have been purposefully salvaged for other projects and will continue to bring beauty and pleasure for years to come.

With the removal of the trees, one no longer has to imagine where the facility will be located or how expansive it will be upon completion.

Blasting and excavating have begun and will continue for the rest of 2024.

The district's goal has always been to treat wastewater to the highest possible standards achievable with available resources. The state-of-the-art Wastewater Treatment Facility project will further that goal by meeting new effluent standards, improving treatment efficiency, and establishing a framework that will allow for minor improvements to provide capacity for future growth.  

Stay tuned to this page for more updates throughout the progression of the immense project.