Unfunded Regulatory Mandates

How do water, wastewater, stormwater and reuse regulations impact the City and County of Broomfield? Through the authorization of the Clean Water Act and Safe Drinking Water Act, the U.S. EPA enacted various water quality regulations designed to protect aquatic and human life. Both the Clean Water Act and Safe Drinking Water Act allow states to set and enforce their standards if the standards are, at a minimum, as stringent as EPA’s national standards.   

In Colorado, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment’s Water Quality Control Commission (WQCC) adopts water quality classifications and standards for waters of the state to achieve compliance with those classifications and standards. These standards must be reviewed and revised as needed every three years. Surface water quality standards consist of three core components:

• Classified uses: based on each waterbody’s current or future suitability
• Criteria: assigned to protect the use
• Antidegradation designations: protect existing uses

The WQCC and the Water Quality Control Division also developed a 10-year Water Quality Roadmap (2017-2027) to update and create new water quality standards. The roadmap includes standards for nutrients (nitrogen, phosphorus, and chlorophyll a) in streams and lakes, ammonia, arsenic, cadmium, selenium, and temperature.