Emerald ash borer requires homeowner action, but not panic

Insect found in Arapahoe County

BY SHEA VANCE SVANCE@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

With emerald ash borer—an invasive, tree-killing insect—now in Arapahoe County, experts are advising people with ash trees to take action sooner rather than later.

“ ere’s no need for people to panic because they’ve got a little bit of time, but they should start thinking about that now if they haven’t already,” said Lisa Mason, horticulturist and entomologist at the Colorado State University Extension o ce in Arapahoe County.

e species targets ash trees, which make up roughly 15 percent of the urban canopy — the surface area shaded by trees — in Arapahoe County.

An infestation in northeast Littleton was identi ed on June 20 by South Suburban Parks and Recreation District sta . According to South Suburban, the exact location was within the open space area next to the Big Dry Creek East Trailhead, near the Broadway and Littleton Boulevard intersection.

Mary Danser, the Littleton city forester, said once the emerald ash borer invades an ash tree, it is essentially an “immediate death sentence” for the tree.

“You see the decline, and that means it’s too late to save the tree,” Danser said. “ at’s the reason it’s a big deal, or a bigger deal than other pests, because of its e cacy in killing the trees.”

Emerald ash borer — or EAB — was found in Boulder in 2013, having been brought to Colorado from Michigan. Since then, it has mostly stayed north of Denver. e reason for the jump down to Littleton is likely the transport of rewood across the city, Mason said.

Mason advises that residents in and around northeast Littleton start treatment or removal now, but said that most of the county still has time.

“ ere’s a lot of great replacement tree options, and we’re happy to help people gure out the replacement trees that work well for them,” Mason said.

To treat or to remove?

Now that the pest has made its way south of Denver, it will eventually a ect all ash trees in Arapahoe County, slowly spreading over the course of the coming years. Untreated ash trees will die.

“Anyone with an ash tree will eventually have to make a nancial decision, whether they treat the tree with insecticides, or whether they have the tree removed,” Mason said. “ ey don’t have to make that decision right away.”

Removal can be pricey up-front, but treatment may cost more in the long run. Some options require treatments every three years, and others can be as often as twice a year. e removal of one or multiple trees from a property, however, can decrease the value of the property, and all these factors should be considered when deciding whether to treat or remove, Danser said. e cost of each option can vary depending on the tree and the business being consulted.

Because of the increased di culty of removal after an infestation, it will cost homeowners less to remove their ash trees ahead of time rather than wait for EAB to reach their area, according to Mason.

If a resident opts to treat their ash trees, the best way to go about it is to hire a licensed arborist, according to Danser. She said some stores and nurseries sell certain chemicals that can work, but are diluted, making them less e ective. e highly e ective forms of treatment are only available through licensed applicators, who also know how to apply them correctly.

Although it is possible to treat a tree after it has been infested, according to Mason, that treatment must be hasty. e best way to save an ash tree from EAB is to treat it before the insect invades.

A resident may also opt to remove their ash tree, which is the better course of action for less healthy trees, Mason said.

“If a tree is not healthy, it is probably not a good candidate for treatments, because the insecticides are systemic, which means the root system needs to be able to uptake the insecticide and spread it throughout the tree,” Mason said. “An unhealthy ash tree just simply would not be able to do that.”

Homeowners may choose to remove their ash trees, even if they’re healthy, depending on the value to the homeowner and homeowners associations.

Although Danser recognizes the nancial di erences between the options, she highly advises against removing a tree that is healthy and in a sustainable location (not growing under a power line).

“I would only recommend removals for undesirable ash trees,” she said. “If your tree is healthy and you are able, chemical treating your ash is the best thing to do to save your own tree, contribute to the greater urban canopy in your neighborhood, and ght against the EAB.”

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the district increased storage 4,726 acre feet and the depth of the reservoir had increased 9.53 feet, according to Ron Redd, the district manager for the Parker

Redd said 4,726 acre feet of water is what about 12,000 homes

On May 12, 2013, the river was declared free, allowing the water district to keep water that flowed into the reservoir and water pumped from Cherry Creek.

Within a month, Redd said the district stored 3,232 acre feet of water and the depth increased 6.7 feet, which would take care of the needs of nearly 8,000 homes a year.

The district is currently pumping 20,000 gallons of water per minute into the reservoir from Cherry Creek. As of July 6, there is 23,312 acre feet of water in Rueter Hess Reservoir and the total depth is 100 feet deep.

Where your water comes from Established in 1962, the Parker Water and Sanitation District is a water and wastewater that currently serves about 20,030 accounts and anticipates serving 35,000 by the year 2040.

The now AA+ accredited facility serves customers in the Town of Parker as well as various surrounding communities, however, not all residents of the town are served by the water district.

Those receiving service from the water district in the Stroh and Hess Ranch areas of the town are not within the district boundaries.

The district relies on multiple water sources to provide water to their customers.

In addition to rainfall, the district gets water from their wells in the Denver Basin, run-off from Newlin Gulch and through their junior water rights on Cherry Creek.

The Denver Basin Aquifer are deep wells that draw water from underground sources, with wells ranging 515 and 2,745 feet deep.

Recently, the district has been storing water from Newlin Gulch and Cherry Creek.

The district also has water rights on South Platte, which is currently being used for agricultural purposes and not municipal needs, said Communications Manager Deirdre Mueller. But it will play into the plans for the Platte Valley Water Partnership.

Launched in 2021, the partnership with the Lower South Platte Water Conservancy District aims to optimize existing and future water demands resources as demands will increase as the population grows.

Another partnership is with

WISE - Water, Infrastructure and Supply Efficiency. This regional water supply project between Aurora, Denver and members of the South Metro Water Supply Authority allows infrastructure and supplies to be shared, reducing the region’s reliance on nonrenewable groundwater and maximizing existing water assets.

Located on Newlin Gulch, a tributary drainage of Cherry Creek, is the Rueter-Hess Reservoir.

Water was first pumped into the reservoir in 2011 and was completed in 2012. The storage of the water in the reservoir helps serve the district’s water demands.

With a capacity to hold 75,000 acre feet according to Redd, the reservoir encompasses 1,170 acres.

First in the nation

The Rueter-Hess Water Purification Facility is a technologically advanced facility capable of treating up to 10 million gallons of water per day from the RueterHess Reservoir.

Common in Japan and Australia, the Parker water district was the first in the U.S. to have a largescale potable water treatment facility to use ceramic membrane filter technology, said Redd.

The $52 million facility was commissioned in early 2015 and began sending water into the system in July of the same year.

Water comes in from the reservoir to the bottom of the purification facility and goes through a tedious treatment process before being sent to customers.

“What we do is manipulate the water as it goes through the process,” said Redd. “We add all these chemicals, we take out all the stuff you don’t want in the water, then we bring it back to regular water.”

The water first goes through a flocculation process where charged sand mixes with the water coming in from the reservoir, attracting particles. While the sand is recycled, the water goes into settling basins where water pours over the top and particles continue to fall out.

The district then uses a recirculating powered activated carbonPAC - system to remove dissolved organic carbon compounds which takes out pharmaceuticals that come from wastewater streams as well as odor and taste.

According to Redd, water is then pushed through the six foot tall tubes with the ceramic membrane treatment filters. All 650 filters are designed with certain shapes which allow water molecules to go through but bacteria and viruses are too big to pass. The bacteria and viruses that are too big get backwashed into ponds, which is then brought back into the treatment plant.

“So we have very little loss,” said Redd. “It’s less than 4%.”

Underneath the ceramic filters are large tanks with chlorine. The chlorine mixes with the water and is then sent to customers.

Conventional wastewater treatment

Following the completion of the expansion last summer, the North Water Reclamation Facility is a $64 million advanced wastewater treatment facility designed to treat four million gallons per day.

Wastewater from the collection system across the community goes to this location where large coarse materials are taken out and go to a landfill.

“We’re trying to salvage as much and reclaim as much water as we possibly can through the system,” said Ben Emerson, wastewater and collections manager.

According to Redd, the facility is a water resource for the district as nearly 6,000 to 7,000 acre feet comes from treated wastewater.

The wastewater first goes through the primary clarifier, which allows anything that needs to settle out and the clear water spills over. The clear water then goes into an activated sludge process.

“What we’re really doing there is trying to grow a biological ecosystem that’s going to remove all sorts of pollutants from the water,” said Emeerson.

The water goes through a biological nutrient removal process which accelerates the growth of the microbes followed by the aerated zone, converting ammonia into nitrate.

In circular tanks, clean water comes out through the center well and down what looks like a waterfall.

“Most wastewater treatment stops here,” said Emerson. “We take this water and send it to our advanced water treatment.”

The clear water flows into equalization tanks - this is where normal water treatment startschanging the charges of the water.

Polymer is added to the water during the flocculation process, grabbing small charged particles to build something that will separate from the water. That clear water spills over into a channel and goes through sand filters.

Included in the expansion was the addition of UV light for the disinfection process.

The district used to disinfect with chlorine like most treatment facilities but have moved to UV lights submerged in the water, which scrambles the DNA of bacteria so things like e.coli cannot reproduce.

Water is then discharged into Cherry Creek.

The reclamation facility also includes a class A biosolids treatment process, which takes microorganisms grown in the aeration basin, thickens it and monitors the temperature to kill harmful bacteria.

The digested sludge goes through a press, squeezing out as much water as possible. The nutrient rich solids then go into a rolloff where it can be used for agricultural purposes.

The future

To keep up with technology and space demands for employees, the new Operations, Maintenance and Administration Building is under construction.

Located across the street from the Rueter-Hess Water Purification Facility, the new 100,000 plus square foot building will have enough space for 180 staff members and a portion will be available to the public according to Mueller.

“We’ll grow into it over the next 15 to 20 years as our needs increase,” said Mueller.

In addition to indoor parking for a number of fleet vehicles, the building will include various labs to test water and wastewater internally and externally, water quality sampling and residents will have the opportunity to drop off samples if they wish to have their water tested.

“We can test from microbiology, organics, chemistry,” said Stephanie Sanson, project manager and design engineer for the district’s engineering division.

The lower level plans to include IT and data workshops as well as an innovation lab to test different technology and be used as an educational space for kids.

A conference room will be built for district staff and board meetings. As the district is looking to open it up to other groups and agencies, said Sansom, the room could be used by homeowners associations.

The upper level will be offices, which will have an open floor plan according to Sansom. There will be collaboration areas which are designed in a way to move as the company grows.

Also, the placement and design of the building is tied to the Native American history of the land.

Sansom said they are taking advantage of the natural landscape and not disturbing it too much, however, crews did have to excavate a bit into the hill.

“There’s a spot on top of the hill that is a center of the circle,” said Sansom. “Every line in the building comes out from that circle as a radius.”

As various factors could impact the constriction, the district cannot project the final numbers however, its building is estimated to be $58 million according to Mueller.

“We tried to think bigger and think future,” said Sansom.