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Evaluation of Nutrient Attenuation during Subsurface Flow of Pond-Infiltrated Wastewater

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Evaluation of Nutrient Attenuation during Subsurface Flow of Pond-Infiltrated Wastewater

Study Area: Metro Wastewater Reclamation District Central Treatment Plant, Denver, Colorado
Period of Project: October 1998- September 1999
Project Number: CO405
Project Chief: Dan T. Chafin
Cooperator: Metro Wastewater Reclamation District (MWRD)

BACKGROUND:

In April 1997, Metro Wastewater Reclamation District (MWRD) entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with the Colorado Water Quality Control Division, the Colorado Division of Wildlife, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to construct a 24-hour detention pond for treated wastewater near the Central Treatment Plant. In 1999, in addition to constructing this detention pond, MWRD constructed a percolation pond. The purpose of the percolation pond is to allow observation and evaluation of the conversion of ammonia in wastewater to nitrate during infiltration through the unsaturated zone as it flows in the ground-water environment.

OBJECTIVES:

1. To install one background well and six monitoring wells in the wastewater plume to allow MWRD personnel to collect water-quality samples from the plume over a period of about 1.5 years.
2. To determine the distribution of the wastewater plume between the percolation pond and the South Platte River.