The upper Dolores River is "in good shape," but could face problems if development outstrips wastewater-treatment capacity, experts told a crowd of approximately 50 local residents at the Dolores River Watershed Forum Tuesday.

The forum included updates on water quality, McPhee Reservoir, river-corridor development and the ongoing San Juan National Forest management-plan revision.

For the last three years natural-resource topics have been discussed at a series of annual forums sponsored by Dolores and Montezuma counties, the Natural Resource Conservation Service, regional soil-conservation districts and the Dolores Water Conservancy District.

The sessions are geared toward increasing the public’s overall understanding of land-management and watershed issues in a relaxed format that encourages audience questions and discussion. The next forum, which will focus on the Clean Water Act, is scheduled for 7 p.m., April 10 at the Dolores Community Center.

Scott Clow, a water-quality specialist with the Ute Mountain Ute tribe, and Ervin Frazier, town supervisor for Dove Creek, reported Tuesday that tests for toxic-heavy metals in the Dolores River are far below thresholds established by the Clean Water Act. Health hazards such as lead, mercury, arsenic and the gasoline additive MTBE, among others, were found only in trace amounts, or not at all. PH levels for the river were also considered normal.

But the potential for dangerous levels is there if development along the corridor around the town of Rico booms as expected in the future.

"[The upper Dolores] is considered a priority-one watershed, which means it is one that may have significant impacts because of future development," Clow said. "Right now the river is in good shape."

Comparing recent water-testing data with similar tests done in 1975 showed that heavy metals and tailings left over from mining operations have not hurt Dolores river quality, Frazier said.

Aging and inadequate septic and sewage systems along the river between Dolores and Rico have not contributed to lower quality either, he added, but he said those systems "were an area of concern."

Mitchell Periman, sanitation director for the Montezuma County Health Department, conducts monthly monitoring tests for pollutants on the Dolores, the main municipal water source for Cortez and Dolores. Human- and animal-waste indicators, measured by the levels of fecal-coliform bacteria, were reported at 80 colonies per 100 milliliters, he said, well below the allowable level of 200 colonies per 100 milliliters.

Periman seeks out the source of pollutants that are found in order to determine if they are being discharged from an inadequate septic system. Sewage discharge that reaches 2,000 colonies per 100 milliliters is considered a point-source of pollution and would require improvement, he said.

"We have a real natural resource here that we will need to protect," Periman said.

That means when older sewage systems fail, they must be removed, because they were installed when population densities were lower in the watershed.

"As the densities increase, those old systems that need repair or expansion must come back out, and there is not a grandfather clause," Periman said. "If your system is polluting downstream and I can find it, then I can require you to replace it, and I can fine you up to $10,000 per day."

Geological barriers in the canyon, including a thick gravel bed that is difficult to breach with a water well, are also a problem. Periman warned that residents with water wells that are too shallow because of that barrier may be drinking unsafe surface water, rather than filtered ground water.

"Those drinking that water need to not drink it, boil it or install fine filters to the system," he said.

Tests show that for now the Dolores River is effectively breaking down pathogenic and chemical pollutants on its own, Periman said, based on a healthy oxygen content level, an essential component for decomposition.

Also at the forum, Thurmon Wilson, a forest planner for the U.S. Forest Service, reported that the management plan dictating multiple use for this region is being revised as part of a routine upgrading process.

He said that the decision last week by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife to designate the Canada lynx as a threatened species in Colorado and elsewhere will affect management plans for recreation areas and grazing and timber allotments that are within the native animal’s high-altitude habitat.

The small, elusive feline was successfully reintroduced into the San Juan mountains last year by the Colorado Division of Wildlife as part of its policy to restore native species to areas where they once thrived. Forest-plan amendments are being drawn up to accommodate the needs of the lynx and its main food source, the snowshoe hare.

"We do not think there will be much effect on grazing, but we will have to look at each allotment to make that determination before the cows go out, so we have a lot of work to do," Wilson said. "We will take a look at winter-recreation impacts and basic habitat requirements. In areas like that it may affect things like prescribed burns and thinning of trees."

A presidential proposal to further protect the 50 million acres of roadless areas in the nation’s national forests is on the horizon also, Wilson said. If enacted, those requirements would prevent any new road construction for those regions, which would also be included in the San Juan Forest management-plan revision.

Representatives from the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and the National Weather Service gave a presentation on the complex formulas used to predict how much McPhee will fill, based on snowpack and weather.

The Montezuma County Health Department presented their new regulations for waste treatment systems along river corridors at the Dolores Watershed Forum Tuesday night.

Mitchell Periman, sanitation inspector for the county, explained the six options for any system that falls within 16 feet of the river flood plain.

• A holding vault: Sewage must be pumped out of the vault and disposed of regularly. State regulations restrict vault systems for part-time use only.

• Evaporation bed: Sewage is pumped up into a lined, sealed bed where it evaporates. This option works well for lower areas that receive good sunshine, but is problematic for shaded areas or for properties located farther up the river canyon that have limited space.

• Mound system: Sewage is sprayed onto a lined mound of soil that is designed to control the rate wastes filtering through. The sludge is then re-circulated through the mound, which must be covered.

• Sand filter: Similar to the mound system, but sewage is filtered through a covered and lined mound of sand, and then recirculated.

• An internal composting toilet with gray water system.