HomeMy WebLinkAbout961920.tiff _L.LD CC' :TY
October 6, 1996 0
To: Barbara Kirkmeyer, Weld County Commissioner CI
From: Judy Wiley TO T1;
Re: Ground Water Problem at 175 Commander, Erie Air Park
Dear Barbara,
I'm not sure that this is within your area of influence, but I'd like to make you aware
of a situation we have encountered and see if you can give us any help or tell us who can
possibly resolve this problem for us.
As a bit of background, here in Erie Air Park we mostly have "evaporative" rather than
"leach" fields for our septic tanks because of our betonite soil. A residence at 155
Commander, owned by Ed and Michelle Tabares, was granted a permit by the county for a
leach field which sits up the hill from Ed and Laura Mason's home at 175 Commander. I
don't know if it makes a difference, but Masons built their home before Tabares did.
What has happened is that Masons have begun to have a damaging amount of ground
water affecting their foundation and window wells. When they called the County Health
Department they spoke to Trevor who said he was not inclined to come to look at the situation
since it is an hour away from Greeley (!). Eventually he did come out with a Jeff, who was
more understanding, (Laura Mason has given me this information and these names) although
Trevor was apparently still not happy to be doing so. They told Masons that if no water is
standing on the surface of the ground then there is not a situation where a leach field has failed
and there is nothing that they can do. An engineer who came out to look things over for
Masons said that a visual inspection of Tabares leach field, which for a large part is BROWN,
not GREEN, would seem to indicate it is not leaching as it should. Masons did have the water
tested and while it did test positive for fecal matter it apparently was not a high enough reading
to allow the county to consider that it had come from the neighbor's leach field. Without
going into more of the story, I think you get an idea of what is going on here. Masons have
dug a trench which is about 6 feet deep and it is about half full of seepage, so we do have a
considerable amount of water we're talking about here.
I'm writing to ask for direction to pursue some kind of resolution to all this. My
concern is that there is a lot of water coming from one property to another, and that it is
unhealthy to a greater or lesser extent, and that there should be some place within the system
to make things right again. Of course as an aside to all this, Masons have two small boys and
she is pregnant. I think their health concerns are valid. They are taking some steps to try to
divert the water, but it seems diversion is a band-aid, not a solution to their problem.
Thanks for your time, Barbara, and we'd really appreciate any help you can give us.
Ju Wiley
125 Stearman Court
Erie, CO 80515
303-665-5169
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