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The City of Ouray’s wastewater treatment facility is located at 7480ft. in the San Juan Mountains in Southwestern, Colorado. The treatment facility is designed for a flow of 363,000 gallons per day. Because of the location and the elevation in the San Juan Mountains, this site is considered plant hardiness zone 2. Winter time temperatures can reach a -40F.

Primary treatment is provided by a partial mix, two cell aerated lagoon, which is operated at such a rate that the BOD is reduced to 80 mg/L. The wetlands cells are designed to complete the treatment to the 30/30 mg/L NPDES standard.

The operator found that the wetlands cells were capable of reducing the fecal coliform count to the permit required without the use of chlorine. The operator visits the site two times per week to check on the aerators. Total operating budget is $45,000/year including labor and energy costs. Total cost of construction was $805,00.