A new state program Testing of the safety of drinking water in mobile home parks in Colorado started this summer, but it may take some time before communities see major solutions.
The test program is part of the Mobile Home Park Water Quality Act that was passed by the Legislature in 2023 and went into effect this year.
The law gives the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) the authority to test the water in all of Colorado’s approximately 750 parks and, if necessary, force owners to fix any problems.
As of October 15, CDPHE had already tested water quality in approximately 70 communities and was on track to meet its four-year completion goal.
“We are required to test 25% of mobile home parks each year, which means we must have 190 parks tested by June 30, 2025,” said Stephanie Hosie, unit manager of mobile home parks for the state’s Department of Water Quality Control. .
Eleanor Bennett
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Aspen Journalism and Aspen Public Radio
Working on an enforcement process
Of the mobile home parks tested to date, approximately a dozen were found to have water quality issues, such as disinfectant chlorine byproducts, bacterial contamination and heavy metals. One of the first groups tested was Apple Tree Park in New Castle, where residents raised concerns about their tap water being drawn from nearby springs helped spur legislation. The results showed increased levels of heavy metals.
“We only have test results for 10% of the parks in the state, so we can’t really say if this is representative of, you know, the state in general,” Hosie said.
While it’s too early to know the full extent of water quality problems at mobile home parks in Colorado, Hosie expects the problems are more likely in communities like Apple Tree, which have their own water system.
“To date, we have information that more than 80% of parks in the state actually receive their water from a larger utility or from a larger public water system,” she said. “So we would expect to see a lot of parks in the state getting good water quality in their parks.”
When a problem is identified, the state has funding available to help parks take next steps, depending on the type of contamination or problem found.
“And then if we have to use an enforcement process and sanctions, we will do that,” Hosie said.
But most water quality issues in these parks won’t be resolved immediately because the state’s enforcement and criminal process is still underway and the program requires more follow-up testing that could take up to a year in some cases. .
“For example, with total coliform bacteria, we would like to see follow-up samples fairly quickly,” Hosie said. “But for something like disinfection byproducts, we’d like to see a full year of data so we can see what they look like at different times of the year.”
While no major repairs have been made yet, most parks are in compliance with the state testing program.
“They started doing the additional testing and working with us,” Hosie said. “We are very impressed with the park owners, managers and employees who have shown their commitment to water quality and ensuring people have safe water.”
Eleanor Bennett
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Aspen Journalism and Aspen Public Radio
Apple Tree residents continue to face daily water issues
At Apple Tree Park, where residents have complained for years about the strange odor, taste and discoloration of the water coming out of the tap, the first round of testing results in February showed the water meets federal Environmental Protection Agency standards under the Safe Drinking Water Actbut it has higher than normal levels of heavy metals such as iron and manganese in its groundwater wells.
Silvia Barragán, who moved to the park in 2015, is frustrated by the slow response from park owners and the state.
“It makes me feel terrible because I see the problem. I live with this problem every day,” she said. “I have to get my water from the store in Glenwood.”
The state is working with a Utah-based company Real estate investment group (IPG), which bought Apple Tree Park from the local Talbott family in 2020, to come up with short-term solutions such as flushing the water system more often and installing a gas station where residents can pay 35 cents per liter of filtered water. Asked for an interview, an IPG employee at Apple Tree Park said the company does not participate in media interviews.
For her part, Barragán doesn’t trust the gas station because the filtered water still comes from the same underground wells as her tap water, and she said the increased flushing recently caused her water heater to break.
“I flushed my boiler because they told me to, and then I had to call a plumber to come and fix it,” she said. “My plumber came from Gypsum and he charges $150 an hour, so it’s about $300 to come and fix the problem.”
Eleanor Bennett
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Aspen Journalism and Aspen Public Radio
In addition to her boiler problem, the water continues to stain Barragán’s clothes and laundry, and ruin her appliances and her bathtub.
“The bathtub is so bad and I really need to replace it, but there’s no point if they don’t fix the water,” she said. “My job is stressful and I would like to come home and take a hot bath, but I can’t do this.”
The state has identified some long-term technical solutions, such as installing a new filtration system, or even connecting Apple Tree Park to the municipal water supply, but park residents will likely have to live with the current water until the state’s enforcement process is completed. has been set up. and required follow-up testing completed before next summer.
Meanwhile, Barragán, who loves her home and wants to continue living in Apple Tree Park, has been looking at homes for sale in other neighborhoods because she’s tired of waiting for clean water.
“It’s been happening since I’ve lived here,” she says. “So it’s just bad. It makes me feel disappointed.”
This story was produced through a social justice partnership between Aspen Journalism and Aspen Public Radio.
