Problems of a Water-Shed Patrolman

Abstract

One of the biggest problems is rural sewage disposals, as a great many of the country homes and mountain cabins are being modernized. The sewage disposal in a great number of cases is an after consideration. The house is built on a location that suits the fancy of the owner or builder and very often it is on the very brink of a stream, with no possible chance of sewage disposal. The regulations of the Colorado State Board of Health provide as follows : 1. Septic tanks and all parts of their seepage system shall be located at least 100 feet from any mountain stream, lake or dry gulch, 200 feet from a well, and 300 feet from a spring. 2. There should be no possibility of sewage or septic tank effluent flowing over the ground or entering any such water course. 3. A cesspool should not be located less than 300 feet from any mountain stream, lake or dry gulch and 500 feet from a well or spring, and should be only in soil of coarse sand or gravel. When informed of the health laws on pollution of a water course the first thing the builder or owner asks is What am I going to do/ ' I always tell them the stream was there first and if they have disregarded the laws it is their misfortune. But there is the problem and the patrolman must be in a position to advise and the advice must be sound and workable. For illustration, The Troutdale Hotel on Bear Creek, two miles above Evergreen, is built near the stream. They have a large septic tank. The effluent is raised 200 feet over the hill by an electrically driven pump, then is carried through 2000 feet of three inch pipe to a disposal field, which consists of a series of open wells. Mr. Sidels,