2023 Colorado Revised Statutes › Title 25 - PUBLIC HEALTH AND ENVIRONMENT (§§ 25-1-101 — 25-59-106) › ENVIRONMENTAL CONTROL (§§ 25-6.5-101 — 25-18.9-105) › Article 8 - WATER QUALITY CONTROL (§§ 25-8-101 — 25-8-1008) › Part 2 - WATER QUALITY CONTROL COMMISSION (§§ 25-8-201 — 25-8-210) › Section 25-8-205 - [Effective 7/1/2026] Control regulations

(1)
The commission may promulgate control regulations for the following purposes:
(a)
To describe prohibitions, standards, concentrations, and effluent limitations on the extent of specifically identified pollutants, including, but not limited to, those mentioned in section
25-8-204
, that any person may discharge into any specified class of state waters;
(b)
To describe pretreatment requirements, prohibitions, standards, concentrations, and effluent limitations on wastes any person may discharge into any specified class of state water from any specified type of facility, process, activity, or waste pile including, but not limited to, all types specified in section 306 (b)(1)(A) of the federal act;
(c)
To describe precautionary measures, both mandatory and prohibitory, that must be taken by any person owning, operating, conducting, or maintaining any facility, process, activity, or waste pile that does cause or could reasonably be expected to cause pollution of any state waters in violation of control regulations or that does cause the quality of any state waters to be in violation of any applicable water quality standard;
(d)
To adopt toxic effluent standards and pretreatment standards for pollutants which interfere with, pass through, or are otherwise incompatible with sewage treatment works;
(e)
To describe requirements, prohibitions, standards, and concentration limitations on the use and disposal of biosolids to protect public health and to prevent the discharge of pollutants into state waters, except as authorized by permit. The commission requirements described pursuant to this subsection (1)(e) must not be more restrictive than the requirements adopted for solid wastes disposal sites and facilities pursuant to part 1 of article
20
of title
30
, except as necessary to be consistent with section 405 of the federal act. Fees must be established as set forth in rules adopted by the commission pursuant to section 25-8-210.
(f)
In accordance with sections
25-8-205.7
,
25-8-205.8
, and
25-8-205.9
, to describe requirements, prohibitions, standards, and concentration limitations on the reuse of reclaimed domestic wastewater for purposes other than drinking that will protect public health and encourage the reuse of reclaimed domestic wastewater;
(g)
(I)
To describe requirements, prohibitions, and standards for the use of graywater for nondrinking purposes, to encourage the use of graywater, and to protect public health and water quality.
(II)
A city, city and county, or county that has adopted an ordinance or resolution regarding the use of graywater pursuant to section
30-11-107 (1)(kk)
or
31-15-601 (1)(m)
has exclusive enforcement authority regarding compliance with the ordinance or resolution.
(III)
Use of graywater is allowed only in accordance with the terms and conditions of the decrees, contracts, and well permits applicable to the use of the source water rights or source water and any return flows from the source water, and graywater use shall not be allowed in A manner that is not allowed under such decrees, contracts, or permits.
(h)
In accordance with section 25-8-205.1, to establish requirements, prohibitions, and standards for the discharge of dredged or fill material into state waters.
(2)
In the formulation of each control regulation, the commission shall consider the following:
(a)
The need for regulations that control discharges of specified pollutants that are the subject of water quality standards for the receiving state waters;
(b)
The need for regulations that specify treatment requirements for various types of discharges;
(c)
The degree to which any particular type of discharge is subject to treatment, the availability, practicality, and technical and economic feasibility of treatment techniques, and the extent to which the discharge to be controlled is significant;
(d)
Control requirements promulgated by agencies of the federal government;
(e)
The continuous, intermittent, or seasonal nature of the discharge to be controlled;
(f)
Whether a regulation that is to be applicable to discharges into flowing water should be written in such a way that the degree of pollution tolerated or treatment required will be dependent upon the volume of flow of the receiving water or the extent to which the discharge is diluted therein, or the capacity of the receiving water to assimilate the discharge; and
(g)
The need for specification of safety precautions that should be taken to protect water quality including, but not limited to, requirements for the keeping of logs and other records, requirements to protect subsurface waters in connection with mining and the drilling and operation of wells, and requirements as to settling ponds, holding tanks, and other treatment facilities for water that will or might enter state waters.
(3)
Control regulations may be promulgated for use in connection with any one or more of the classes of state waters authorized pursuant to section
25-8-203
and may be made applicable with respect to any designated portion of state waters or to all state waters.
(4)
The commission shall coordinate and cooperate with the state engineer, the Colorado water conservation board, the energy and carbon management commission created in section 34-60-104.3 (1), the state board of health, and other state agencies having regulatory powers in order to avoid adopting control regulations that would be either redundant or unnecessary.
(5)
The commission shall not adopt control regulations that require agricultural nonpoint source dischargers to utilize treatment techniques that require additional consumptive or evaporative use which would cause material injury to water rights. With regard to nonpoint source water pollution control related to agricultural practices, the commission and division shall pursue incentive, grant, and cooperative programs in preference to the promulgation of control regulations. When interested water conservation districts, water conservancy districts, and conservation districts recommend nonpoint source control activities related to agricultural practices to the division and commission, the division and commission, after consultation with such districts, shall give substantial weight to the recommendations of such districts into the approved program. Except as provided by section
25-8-205.5
, control regulations related to agricultural practices shall be promulgated only if incentive, grant, and cooperative programs are determined by the commission to be inadequate and such regulations are necessary to meet state law or the federal act. This subsection (5) does not allocate wasteloads or relieve any source from participation in wasteload allocations determined necessary under any duly promulgated regulations established by the water quality control commission under this section.
(6)
The division may issue a variance from a control regulation of general applicability, based upon a determination that the benefits derived from meeting the control regulation do not bear a reasonable relationship to the economic, environmental, or energy impacts or other factors which are particular to the applicant in complying with the control regulation; except that such variance shall be consistent with the purposes of this article including the protection of existing beneficial uses. No variance shall be issued for longer than five years. Variances shall be granted or renewed according to the procedure established in section
25-8-401(5)
.
Amended by 2024 Ch. 277,§ 4, eff. 1/1/2026.
Amended by 2024 Ch. 274,§ 1, eff. 5/29/2024.
Amended by 2023 Ch. 216,§ 10, eff. 7/1/2026.
Amended by 2023 Ch. 235,§ 30, eff. 7/1/2023.
Amended by 2018 Ch. 400, § 2, eff. 8/8/2018.
Amended by 2018 Ch. 179, § 2, eff. 8/8/2018.
Amended by 2018 Ch. 171, § 2, eff. 8/8/2018.
Amended by 2017 Ch. 199, § 2, eff. 8/9/2017.
Amended by 2013 Ch. 228, § 3, eff. 5/15/2013.
L. 81: Entire article R&RE, p. 1318, § 1, effective July 1. L. 88: (5) amended, p. 1022, § 1, effective April 6. L. 90: (5) amended, p. 1330, § 3, effective July 1. L. 93: (1)(e) added, p. 1578, § 2, effective July 1. L. 2000: (1)(f) added, p. 252, § 2, effective March 31. L. 2002: (5) amended, p. 517, § 11, effective July 1. L. 2013: (1)(g) added, (HB 13-1044), ch. 228, p. 1088, § 3, effective May 15. L. 2017: (1)(g)(II) amended, (HB 17-1008), ch. 199, p. 723, § 2, effective August 9. L. 2018: (1)(f) amended, (SB 18-038), ch. 400, p. 2365, § 2, effective August 8; (1)(f) amended, (HB 18-1069), ch. 179, p. 1220, § 2, effective August 8; (1)(f) amended, (HB 18-1093), ch. 171, p. 1197, § 2, effective August 8.
Amendments to subsection (1)(f) by SB 18-038, HB 18-1069, and HB 18-1093 were harmonized.
2024 Ch. 277, was passed without a safety clause. See Colo. Const. art. V, § 1(3).
This section is set out more than once due to postponed, multiple, or conflicting amendments.
For the legislative declaration in the 2013 act adding subsection (1)(g), see section 1 of chapter 228, Session Laws of Colorado 2013.