EPA enforcement actions against wastewater plants in Colorado
20 formal actions at 17 of 138 plants · $1.2M in penalties · 45 EPA inspections
EPA's enforcement records list 20 formal civil enforcement cases naming publicly owned wastewater treatment plants in Colorado, 5 of them since fiscal year 2020. The cases involve 17 of the state's 138 plants, with $1.2 million in penalties assessed. The most common ground is sewage sludge disposal (6 cases). EPA has inspected 16 plants in the state, 45 inspections in total. Every plant links to its profile, and every case to its report on EPA's ECHO site.
Recent enforcement actions in Colorado
| Plant | Date | Type | Law section | Outcome | Penalty | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fruita Wastewater Reclamation Facility Fruita | Nov 2025 · FY2025 | Administrative order | NPDES Permit Violations | Final Order With Penalty | $350 | ECHO 07-2025-0099 |
| EPA's description: “Facility generates Class A biosolids for public sale. The biosolids did not meet the requirements of 503.” | ||||||
| St Vrain Sanitation District City Of Longmont | Sep 2025 · FY2025 | Administrative order | NPDES Permit Violations | Final Order With Penalty | $3,000 | ECHO 07-2025-0092 |
| EPA's description: “Facility generates Class A biosolids for public sale. The biosolids did not meet the requirements of 503.” | ||||||
| Northglenn WWTP Brighton | Nov 2024 · FY2023 | Administrative order | NPDES Permit Violations | Final Order No Penalty | — | ECHO 08-2023-0037 |
| EPA's description: “On November 3, 2022 the EPA entered into an Administrative Order on Consent (AOC) with City of Northglenn, Colorado to resolve the City?s failure to implement and enforce its pretreatment Program.…” | ||||||
| Fowler Town Of-Cl2 For North Springs Fowler | Jan 2023 · FY2022 | Administrative order | NPDES Permit Violations | Final Order No Penalty | — | ECHO 08-2022-0062 |
| EPA's description: “On August 1, 2019, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) reissued the Town of Fowler?s (Town) NPDES Permit, which included a new condition that the Town develop and submit…” | ||||||
| South Ft. Collins Sanit. Dist. Fort Collins | Jun 2022 · FY2020 | Administrative order | NPDES Permit Violations | Final Order No Penalty | — | ECHO 08-2020-0067 |
| City Of Louisville Louisville | Jun 2018 · FY2017 | Administrative order | Effluent Limitations - NPDES Toxic & Pretreatment Effluent Standards | Final Order With Penalty | $25,000 | ECHO 08-2017-0104 |
| EPA's description: “This Complaint proposes a penalty for failing to implement its approved pretreatment program in multiple areas. Violations addressed by the Consent Order include: violations of the City?s manganese…” | ||||||
| Southern Ute Indian Tribe Ignacio | Oct 2015 · FY2015 | Administrative order | NPDES Discharge without a Permit | Final Order With Penalty | $12,100 | ECHO 08-2015-0108 |
| EPA's description: “On October 20, 2014, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) received a report from the National Response Center of a produced water spill on the Southern Ute Reservation from a pipeline owned…” | ||||||
| City Of Louisville Louisville | Mar 2014 · FY2014 | Administrative order | Effluent Limitations - NPDES Toxic & Pretreatment Effluent Standards | Final Order Issued | — | ECHO 08-2014-0030 |
| EPA's description: “This Administrative Order for Compliance on Consent (Consent Order) with the City of Louisville, Colorado (City) is for failing to implement its approved pretreatment program in multiple areas.…” | ||||||
| Persigo Wastewater Treatment Plant Grand Junction | Jun 2011 · FY2009 | Administrative order | Effluent Limitations - NPDES Toxic & Pretreatment Effluent Standards | Final Order No Penalty | — | ECHO 08-2009-0129 |
| EPA's description: “This Administrative Order for Compliance is issued to the City of Grand Junction for failure to properly identify Alpine Powder as a SIU, failure to control discharges from all SIUs, failure to…” | ||||||
| City Of Trinidad Trinidad | Aug 2006 · FY2003 | Administrative order | Sewage Sludge Disposal | Final Order No Penalty | — | ECHO 08-2003-0074 |
| EPA's description: “This administrative order for compliance is issued to the City of Trinidad for failure to apply for coverage under the general permit, effective on 8/16/2002, for facilities in Colorado and Indian…” | ||||||
Full case histories, milestones, violation types and EPA's complete case summaries for every plant are shown with a free Klarifi account. Create one →
Largest penalties in Colorado
| # | Plant | Date | Type | Outcome | Penalty | Compliance actions | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Metro Wastewater Reclamation Dist/trigen Denver | Mar 1992 · FY1985 | Judicial case | Final Order With Penalty | $1.1M | — | ECHO 08-1985-0012 |
| 2 | City Of Louisville Louisville | Jun 2018 · FY2017 | Administrative order | Final Order With Penalty | $25,000 | — | ECHO 08-2017-0104 |
| 3 | Southern Ute Indian Tribe Ignacio | Oct 2015 · FY2015 | Administrative order | Final Order With Penalty | $12,100 | $12,100 | ECHO 08-2015-0108 |
| 4 | Delta WWTP Delta | May 1990 · FY1989 | Administrative order | Final Order With Penalty | $10,000 | — | ECHO 08-1989-0134 |
| 5 | St Vrain Sanitation District City Of Longmont | Sep 2025 · FY2025 | Administrative order | Final Order With Penalty | $3,000 | — | ECHO 07-2025-0092 |
| 6 | Fruita Wastewater Reclamation Facility Fruita | Nov 2025 · FY2025 | Administrative order | Final Order With Penalty | $350 | — | ECHO 07-2025-0099 |
Actions by fiscal year
| Fiscal year | Formal actions | Penalties |
|---|---|---|
| FY2017 | 1 | $25,000 |
| FY2018 | 0 | — |
| FY2019 | 0 | — |
| FY2020 | 1 | — |
| FY2021 | 0 | — |
| FY2022 | 1 | — |
| FY2023 | 1 | — |
| FY2024 | 0 | — |
| FY2025 | 2 | $3,350 |
| FY2026 | 0 | — |
EPA fiscal years run from 1 October to 30 September. The current year is partial.
EPA enforcement in Colorado: questions
Sources and methodology
Flow, permit and violation figures come from the EPA's ICIS-NPDES discharge monitoring records. Population served comes from the Clean Watersheds Needs Survey 2022. Treatment structures are identified by Klarifi's review of aerial imagery, and capital improvement projects are extracted from published municipal budget documents. Violations are counted over the last three years of monitoring reports.
Data refreshed September 17, 2026.
Enforcement data: EPA ICIS-FE&C civil enforcement cases and ICIS compliance inspections, via ECHO. Penalties are the amounts assessed or agreed in each case as EPA records them. Latest case status in this data: Nov 2025.