Update on Wintergreen Wastewater Treatment Plant

The Nelson County Service Authority (NCSA) provided an update on the issues with the Wintergreen Wastewater Treatment Plant on August 11th, 2026 to the Board of Supervisors. Justin Shimp reported for the NCSA.

Below you can read a copy of text summarizing the report as it appears in the meeting minutes.

You can also listen to the meeting and the report here.

photo credit to ABC13News

As a quick summary of information leading up to the troubles, Mr. Shimp reported that on May 6, 2024 the consulting engineers told the contractor to go ahead and proceed with the cutting of three holes in the equalization basin. NCSA did not know about these actions until May 13, 2024. George Miller contacted the engineer and said “I was informed that the old overflow pipe had been removed and that new overflows have been installed and that any overflows in the future will go directly into the ground. Have I been misinformed?” The consulting engineer responded that he had not been misinformed, and that this was done to protect NCSA infrastructure in case of an emergency that would cause the plant not to function. The overflow would happen at these three holes. In response to Mr. Miller’s concern about this overflow solution, the engineer stated that NONE of these membrane biological systems had EVER had a pass overflow due to membrane foul but “we” have had to plan for a relief point in case of an emergency.” He represented that similar systems so had never failed “due to membrane foul”. That statement was not true, There had been two instances of “membrane foul” where the plants overflowed but this was not disclosed to the NCSA at the time.

The Wintergreen plant was brought online just prior to the opening of ski season in 2024. There was a debate on whether operator error or engineering failure caused a valve to open and dump the sleds, the digestors into the membranes which is the treatment process itself. That valve opening killed the whole system. Basically, these membranes and all water plants rely on a biology at acertain level so the [effluent] can be treated efficiently. If that system is “blown up “as this one was, it’s like putting diesel in a gas powered car. Because ski season had begun, there was not time to fix the issue and the plant could not function. A violation was received and Staff and the Board were given the impression that this issue would not reoccur.

In March of 2025, the NCSA Board brought in the existing project consultants to explain how this was allowed to happen. No good answer was ever received about how the offending valve was opened and remained open. Construction continued in the summer of 2025 and the NCSA Board remained concerned as did the Executive Director about the progress that was being made. Construction was slow and delayed. The Board ordered the contractor to have ALL of the construction and the punch list items to be completed by November 1, 2025 for the next ski season. That was partially done. The contractor and engineers claimed everything of significance was done.

At the November/December NCSA Board meetings, the Wintergreen operators reported that based on their experience in the easier summer season, they had NO faith that the system would not fail again when the water turned cold and the flow rate went up. There was insufficient time to secure a backup “mobile plate” and the only available option was a pump and haul which was done. The capacity of pump and haul is limited and so the 25-26 ski season was a repeat performance of 24-25. The fundamental design flaws of the system were disclosed to the NCSA Board. A new consulting firm was brought in to review the whole situation and the NCSA board learned that the technology is new and only previously been tested in one comparable case “a ski resort in New Mexico”. That plant had actually failed and been replaced as had the other two comparables systems the earlier consultants had asked the NCSA Board to rely on in selecting this system.

To make the plant operable, the ceramic membranes have to be replaced. The NCASA signed a contract last week to replace the membrane system with a proven technology for about $725,000. The $4,000,000 requested for back up pumps should not be necessary (although they do want some smaller back up pumps).The service authority has the funds to pay for these changes to the system and hope not to have to come back to the Board. The catch would be if there is still a need for back up treatment which would require NCSA coming back the Board. However, the NCSA is confident that based on all the findings in the engineering report that this membrane plate is the most likely way to achieve success. It is also the simplest. Supervisor Parr asked what the timeline is and what is the down time. NO down time and should be ready by December 4, 2026 when ski season opens. A final test will be run in December with the new membrane. The new system will have a higher flow capacity. Ms. McGarry asked if DEQ has approved the change. Mr. Shimp said it’s a corrective action with other issues as well and they are hoping to have DEQ’s approval next week. By mid-October we should know if this is going to work. The last overflow happened last March. The new operating plan will keep the storage back up level high to protect the public. NCSA is optimistic that this issue won’t arise again and the public will be kept informed.