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Effects of residential wastewater treatment systems on ground-water quality in west-central Jefferson County, Colorado

Dennis C. Hall·D. E. Hillier·Edward Nickum·W.G. Dorrance
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Abstract

The use of residential wastewater-treatment systems in Evergreen Meadows, Marshdale, and Herzman Mesa, Colo., has degraded ground-water quality to some extent in each community. Age of community; average lot size; slope of land surface; composition, permeability, and thickness of surficial material; density, size , and orientation of fractures; maintenance of wastewater-treatment systems; and presence of animals are factors possibly contributing to the degradation of ground-water quality. When compared with effluent from aeration-treatment tanks, effluent fom septic-treatment tanks is characterized by greater biochemical oxygen demand and greater concentrations of detergents. When compared with effluent from septic-treatment tanks, effluent from aeration-treatment tanks is characterized by greater concentrations of dissolved oxygen, nitrite, nitrate, sulfate, and dissolved solids. (USGS)

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Dennis C. Hall, D. E. Hillier, Edward Nickum, W.G. Dorrance. 1981. Effects of residential wastewater treatment systems on ground-water quality in west-central Jefferson County, Colorado. https://doi.org/10.3133/ofr8173

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