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Routt County commissioners advocate for funding for Yampa’s 50-year-old wastewater treatment upgrades

An aerial view of the town of Yampa taken in February 2022 from an EcoFlight tour of the Yampa Valley with Friends of the Yampa. Yampa is seeking funds for upgrades to its wastewater treatment facility, which last received upgrades in the 1980s.
Dylan Anderson/Steamboat Pilot & Today

Yampa is looking for funding to make updates to its 50-year-old wastewater treatment facility and water collection systems. Town officials indicate the total cost could be upwards of $8 million dollars, a price tag that Yampa cannot handle on its own. 

“The collection system part of the project will happen next year if our current funding request comes all together, that part of the project is just under $3 million,” Town Administrator Sheila Symons said. “The wastewater treatment plant construction should come in the neighborhood of $5.5 million dollars and we hope to do that in 2025.”

Symons emphasized the importance of updating this half-century-old equipment, citing the fact the current system last got upgrades in the early 1980s. 



Routt County commissioners and the neighboring town of Oak Creek both sent letters of support advocating for the funding of this project. 

Commissioners sent letters of support March 7 to senators requesting $4 million dollars in Congressionally Directed Spending for a wastewater treatment project in Yampa.



Commissioners asked Sens. Bennet and Hickenlooper to approve the spending to make what Yampa deems “critical upgrades” to its wastewater facilities. The letter outlined the need for Congressionally Directed Spending as the cost of the necessary upgrades would place a substantial financial burden on the town that has fewer than 500 residents.

Commissioners said in their letter that Yampa’s 50-year-old treatment facility has reached the end of its design life and is experiencing effluent violations. 

The wastewater treatment plan will benefit the residents of Yampa, surrounding unincorporated areas of Routt County, and the students of South Elementary School.


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