Telluride
Newterra Achieves “New Heights” in Wastewater Treatment!
From eight months from contract award to system operation, Newterra supplies a rapid solution and within a tight budget to save the day for this remote community.

Last Dollar is a year-round residential community located just outside of Telluride, Colorado. The facility had been reliant on an aging treatment system that was failing quickly and needed immediate replacement to prevent operational fines. The current technology would not meet the new and more stringent effluent requirements in Colorado, so the project had to be completed quickly and within a tight budget. AquaWorks DBO provided the permitting and site engineering support for the Last Dollar HOA (Home Owners Association) to ensure the project was completed in 8 months from contract award to system operation.
Last Dollar is a year-round residential community located just outside of Telluride, Colorado.
Market Served
Small Remote Community
Application
Decentralized Wastewater Treatment
Location
Telluride, Colorado
Challenge
Emergency Replacement System
Solution/Service
MBR Sewage Treatment Plant
CHALLENGE
The key challenges facing the Last Dollar project was its difficult location for installation and the overall tight schedule to replace the old failing system. The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE), had provided effluent requirements much less than the initial system was designed for – therefore, changing technology to MBR was now a must.
SOLUTION
AquaWorks DBO worked with the client, confirming that Newterra’s modular membrane bioreactor (MBR) technology was the only option that met all the specific requirements of installation, schedule, effluent performance, and overall equipment and installation costs.
Newterra began working with AquaWorks DBO immediately to finalize the best system that would provide the required capacity of treatment and meet the effluent limits imposed by the CDPHE. The preliminary design was presented to the CDPHE and their quick and positive response to the system design solution allowed Newterra to begin fabrication of the system within four months, due to weather constraints. Ultimately, the system was shipped in January, and was already treating 10,000 gpd (38 m3/day) of wastewater in March.
RESULTS
An Award-Wining Partnership
AquaWorks DBO, Inc. was awarded the GRAND PRIZE by the American Academy of Environmental Engineers and Scientists® for Excellence in Environmental Engineering and Science™ for this project.

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