Brandon Leuallen, The Business Times

In its Jan. 21-28, 2026, edition, The Business Times reported on the Town of Palisade’s effort to move forward with a long-planned wastewater transfer to the Clifton Sanitation District, the focus was on rising construction costs, funding gaps and tightening regulatory deadlines tied to decommissioning the town’s lagoon system.

Since that reporting, town documents indicate another issue is now becoming more prominent as the transfer deadline approaches: enforcement of long-standing wastewater-pretreatment requirements for food service and other businesses that had not previously been enforced.

In a Jan. 27 Town Manager report outlining capital construction priorities, town staff said Palisade is working toward enforcement of the pretreatment-wastewater program that had existed for years. The report indicates a number of businesses connected to the town’s sewer system are not currently in compliance with pretreatment requirements, and surveys and letters have already been sent to affected users, with additional correspondence planned.

The report further says pretreatment compliance is required regardless of whether Palisade ultimately completes its planned transfer of wastewater treatment to the Clifton Sanitation District.

Pretreatment requirements already in place

Under Palisade law, wastewater pretreatment requirements for restaurants, wineries, breweries and other commercial operations are already codified. Ordinance No. 2022-11 amended the Palisade Municipal Code to adopt the Clifton Sanitation District’s commercial and industrial pretreatment standards, including specific fats, oils and grease-control requirements and other discharge limitations.

The ordinance applies to restaurants, cafes and similar food-service establishments, as well as wineries, breweries, distilleries and other nonresidential users whose wastewater characteristics or discharge volumes fall within regulated thresholds.

For food-service operations, the standards require installation of a grease interceptor designed to prevent fats, oils and grease from entering the sewer system. According to the ordinance, the standards call for an interceptor with at least two compartments and a minimum approved capacity of 750 gallons, with 1,000 gallons listed as the standard size. These systems are typically installed outside the building and sized based on fixtures and flow rates. The ordinance also requires district approval of system design, compliance with county plumbing codes, and ongoing maintenance and cleaning.

While the ordinance does not specify dollar amounts, the scope of required infrastructure and documentation indicates compliance could represent a significant financial investment for businesses not already in compliance.

Connection to lagoon compliance pressures

The Town Manager report does not explicitly quantify how much past non-enforcement has increased the pollutant load entering the system or how much it may have contributed to the compliance challenges driving the town to pursue major infrastructure changes.

As Palisade works toward a transition to the Clifton Sanitation District, pretreatment enforcement adds another layer to the town’s wastewater challenges, particularly for a community with a significant number of restaurants, wineries and breweries.