Oak Creek officials are moving quickly to address needed rehabilitation work at the Sheriff Reservoir Dam while also working to identify and undertake improvements to the town’s drinking water and wastewater treatment systems.

Town Council members on Thursday approved $10,000 in funding to hire W.W. Wheeler & Associates in its effort to secure funding for the dam rehabilitation project.

In a separate decision, council approved $50,000 for an agreement with AquaWorks DBO Inc. to support wastewater and drinking water improvements needed for the town to comply with state and federal regulations.

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Built in 1954 and located 12 miles southwest of Oak Creek within the Medicine Bow-Routt National Forest in Rio Blanco County, the Sheriff Reservoir Dam is owned and operated by the town of Oak Creek.

The dam is currently subject to storage restrictions and is considered a “high-hazard embankment dam,” according to the state’s Division of Water Resources.

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Conditions leading to that designation include inadequate spillway capacity and operational issues linked to an aging low-level outlet works gate. Other issues include a sinkhole discovered in the dam’s foundation and outlet issues linked to a stem casing that is not watertight and a gate that does not close properly.

W.W. Wheeler & Associates estimates total cost of the rehabilitation work to be $5.5 million.

The firm noted a “strong possibility” that the Federal Emergency Management Agency would cover 60% of those costs if the remaining amount is obtained from various state and local partners including the Yampa Water Conservancy District and the Colorado Department of Local Affairs.

Interim Town Administrator Mary Alice Page-Allen said the town and the consulting firm had been working toward assembling a funding package before the town’s prior town administrator, David Torgler, announced his resignation earlier this year.

After Page-Allen took the role on an interim basis last month, she said she and town staff worked quickly to get the effort back on track.

“Frankly, we are pulling a rabbit out of the hat in a very short period of time, so hence that is why this agreement was executed and authorized and why it is in front of you for a ratification,” she said.

Page-Allen called the work needed to improve Oak Creek’s drinking water and wastewater systems “urgent” due to a Dec. 31 deadline for the town to spend $25,000 in grant funding awarded by the state Department of Local Affairs.

The deadline for spending the money, which is included in the town’s $50,000 allocation, was Aug. 31, but Page-Allen said the town has received an extension until year-end.

“We have got to take action, we just received another violation … we need to take those next steps and show the state that we are going to be in compliance, and this is what needs to happen,” she said.

AquaWorks delivered an evaluation report to the town last summer that included recommendations and next steps needed to be undertaken or finalized to meet standards and regulations applying to the town sewer treatment plant’s effluent discharge and for its potable water systems.

The report helped the town secure the state funding, but none of the grant money has been spent yet.

Oak Creek Public Works Director Tom Holliday said the crux of the issue stems from recently enacted regulations that lower the nitrate limits for treated wastewater released into the Oak Creek from the town’s wastewater treatment plant.

“We built new lagoons in 2008 to get rid of our ammonia issues, and it works perfect for that. Ten years later there’s new regulations for nitrate issues — the plant wasn’t designed for that,” he said.

Page-Allen added that the town also has “some compliance schedules that have kind of gone by the wayside that require engineering oversight.”

The AquaWorks assessment also noted the relatively high-water production levels at the town’s water treatment plant in the amount of 300,000 gallons per day for the town of roughly 900 people.

“This flow rate equates to an average of 330 GPD per person … almost three times the expected range of 75 to 100 gallons per day,” the report states. “These numbers suggest the distribution system may have significant water loss, which should be investigated further.”