Aquifer Protection Plan released for public comment
Aquifer Protection Plan released for public comment
The plan details what can and can’t be built on the land above Laramie’s main source of drinking water. Residents have 45 days to offer input and propose changes.
The Casper Aquifer rests beneath a large area east of Laramie and provides 55% of the city’s drinking water. The resource is vital to life in the Laramie area, and just how much protection that resource should have is, and has been, a matter of intense debate.
The Casper Aquifer Protection Plan, or CAPP, limits what can be built or developed on the land above the aquifer.
“The primary purpose of the CAPP is to protect and preserve the Casper Aquifer so that both City and County residents within the protection area can enjoy high quality drinking water,” the plan states in its introduction. “The plan seeks to protect equally both the municipal and domestic wells in close proximity to the aquifer’s recharge area.”
The aquifer is threatened by the possibility of nitrate and other contamination. The risk for such contamination is increased by development on the land above, but mitigated by the presence of satanka shale between the ground and the aquifer itself, and the use of septic systems to filter out nitrates.
“The aquifer is vulnerable to contamination from overlying land uses across the recharge area, and along the western margin in areas where the typically protective Satanka Shale has been compromised,” the plan states. “Due to the highly faulted, fractured, cavernous, and folded nature of the Casper Aquifer along with natural drainages, a contaminant introduced at the ground surface might easily enter the aquifer and move rapidly away from the entry point. Once contaminated, aquifers are difficult and expensive to remediate and municipalities or responsible parties may have to pay for site studies, remediation, and property damage.”
But as advocates push for more protections and more limitations, they come into conflict with those who would develop the land or expand their existing infrastructure there. The issue has inspired many heated meetings.
Advocates have been in power at the county government level since 2020 when Commissioner Sue Ibarra unseated then-Commissioner Terri Jones and flipped the county commission.
Now, a panel of both city and county representatives is considering updates to the CAPP that would heighten requirements for development on the land, while moving the zone’s western boundary east, shrinking the total area some.
Residents can view the draft updates on the county website, and can submit comments online for the next month and a half. Also during that time, the panel will host three in-person events to receive public comment. Each will take place at the Municipal Operations Center:
September 7, 6-8 p.m.
September 13, 6-8 p.m.
October 5, 6-8 p.m.
Once the public comment period concludes, the panel can move forward with updates and the approval process. If both city and county planning commissions and the joint city/county Environmental Advisory Committee approve the plan, it will head to the Laramie City Council and Albany County Commission. The city council and the county commission have the final say.
What’s in the new plan?
During a meeting Wednesday night, consultants who worked on the proposed updates outlined the changes they are recommending.
“Our objectives were to update the plan based on the geologic information that’s been acquired since 2008,” said Mark Stacy, a senior hydrogeologist with the consulting firm Stantec. “Another central focus was consolidating the city and the county CAPPs. Obviously, there were differences because the city CAPP was adopted in 2008 and the county’s was adopted in 2011. We wanted to develop prudent policy recommendations that could be codified and be built upon and get consistent implementation across the city and county.”
Stacy said Stantec reviewed the existing CAPPs, site-specific investigations, scientific investigations and recent geologic maps.
Stantec recommends prohibiting large-scale animal feeding operations — think factory farms, not grazing, which would still be allowed — and prohibiting commercial turf, such as that found on a typical golf course.
Stacy outlined five significant elements of the plan and how Stantec’s recommendations would affect them.
The Casper Aquifer restrictions are limited to a specific geographic area; the proposed updates would take that area’s western boundary – the one closest to Laramie – and pull it east in some locations. Some parcels currently included in the aquifer overlay zone were found to be not as threatened as previously thought.
Septic systems are the main defense against nitrates leaking into the ground and then the aquifer. The proposed updates would require that advanced treatment septic systems be purchased when current standard septic systems break down or need replacement. The advanced systems filter out more nitrate but are more costly to install and maintain.
Site-specific investigations can identify vulnerable features before development on the ground begins. “We are basically recommending that these apply to all new development and proposed new uses in the Casper Aquifer protection area,” Stacy said. “We are also recommending a full slate of city and county requirements to replace the current city and county requirements.” The proposed plan requires that the site-specific investigation must identify vulnerable features where the 100-year flood plain crosses the property; the plan also redefines where test holes are required.
The proposed updates change city requirements to match the recommendations above, while also banning the expansion of nonconforming uses, expanding the groundwater well monitoring network, and increasing sewer capacity east of the city.
The proposed updates change county requirements to match the recommendations above, while also adopting an incentive program for replacing old septic systems, adding all Casper Aquifer springs to the list of vulnerable features, and requiring septic system investigations every three years or whenever property changes hands.
Members of the public can offer comments, criticisms or concerns on the intergovernmental panel’s web page until Oct. 8, or they can offer public comment during the in-person public input events listed above. Public comment offered in-person must also be submitted in writing.