CREEDE—During the first of the month meeting of the Mineral County Commissioners on Sept. 5, commissioners listened to an update reported by County Administrator Janelle Kukuk about an ongoing issue with one of the local campgrounds. Kukuk explained that she had been contacted by a disgruntled camper who was staying at the Lonesome Dove Campground on the base of Wolf Creek Pass that complained about the sewage leaking within the ground.
Kukuk continued to explain that the issue has been ongoing for some time and that the county needs to reach out and find a solution. “Just so you guys are aware, we received a phone call from a highly disgruntled camper from the Lonesome Dove RV Park, that there was raw sewage or influent sitting on top of the ground underneath a couple of the RVs,” stated Kukuk. She continued to explain that the sewage showed up after the campers had parked and after a significant rain storm.
“The call came in a week ago Friday, so we did what we could to get our ducks in a row and do the proper thing. We engaged Randy’s help to draw up a document that was basically a notice of violation issued by the Silver Thread Public Health District,” explained Kukuk. The document stated that the park was in violation of regulation 43 and other state statutes. The document stated that the park had until the next Friday (Sept. 1) to submit a repair permit and a repair plan.
Kukuk stated that the park was owned by an absentee owner out of Florida and that the current managers took until after hours on Friday to respond by submitting the required fee and repair permit application, but that they did not include a repair plan, which was required. “The park seems to be a bit oblivious to the situation and just the general nastiness of the situation,” said Kukuk. “We are almost certain that this will end up being a state matter under the purview of the county.”
One of the main concerns of the campers that reported the issue, was that the sewage was leaking into the south fork of the Rio Grande, but when the issue was investigated by the county, no sign of contamination was found. “The original complaint indicated that it was going into the river, but after looking into the situation both on Google Earth and a walk through of the grounds, we don’t see that that is happening, but we can’t rule out that it was happening during the rain storm. We can’t see any evidence that it is currently happening,” said Kukuk.
Kukuk stated that another complaint similar to the one that recently came in was reported a year ago on July 28, 2016 which was filed with the state of Colorado by previous caretakers. “Even then there were a couple of puddles of influent sitting on top of the leach field. So, they were put on notice a year ago. We also discovered that back in 2002 they were put on notice that their sewage system was way too small and needed to be enlarged, and the previous owner dealt with the issue by selling it.”
“Where we are right now is to send another email to the owner explaining that the repair permit is nothing without a repair plan. If we can get some type of plan, we can take the next step and pass the issue onto the state,” finished Kukuk.