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Water Quality Roadmap

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Colorado’s Water Quality Roadmap (WQ Roadmap) is an effort aimed at developing criteria, standards, and innovative statewide regulations to protect and improve water quality. Developed with input from diverse stakeholders, the WQ Roadmap guides the Water Quality Control Division's work across all areas of the Clean Water Program.

What is the Water Quality Roadmap?

Practically, the WQ Roadmap is a long-term planning tool that helps the Division strategically update water quality standards and support implementation across Colorado. It helps coordinate work across monitoring, standards development, permitting, nonpoint source efforts, and engineering.

Roadmap goals include

  • Developing criteria and standards for key pollutants (e.g., nutrients, selenium, ammonia, and arsenic).
  • Strategically planning how to apply those standards across the state of Colorado.
  • Building in time for engagement, feasibility evaluation, and practical implementation planning.

How the roadmap relates to the feasibility and implementation subgroup

The Water Quality Roadmap focuses on the strategic planning and rulemaking schedule over the next several years.

In contrast, the Feasibility and Implementation subgroup (F&I) focuses on the practical side of implementation—working with stakeholders and third-party experts to identify, improve, and communicate regulatory tools (e.g. dilution and mixing zones, AD alternative analysis, compliance schedules, discharger specific variances, site-specific standards, and temporary modifications) that help regulated entities comply with water quality standards.

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Standards being revised

CDPHE is currently working to develop or revise the water quality standards for ammonia, arsenic, nutrients, and selenium.

View standards

How to get involved

 

Meeting materials, including agendas, presentations, and a copy of the meeting recording, will be stored in this public folder.

2025 Water Quality Roadmap Meetings - Register to attend on Zoom

  • Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2025 | 10 a.m. to Noon
  • Thursday, May 29, 2025 | 12:30 to 3:30 p.m.
  • Thursday, Aug. 28, 2025 | 9 to 12 p.m.
  • Thursday, Nov. 20, 2025 | 9 to 10:30 a.m.

Sign up to receive notifications about this effort, and scroll down to select “General - Water Quality Roadmap.”

Feasibility and implementation subgroup
Adopting new and more stringent water quality standards in Colorado without first addressing how to do so has resulted in various challenges for the division and stakeholders. The feasibility and implementation subgroup will explore and develop solutions to challenges faced by the division and stakeholders regarding establishing, implementing, and complying with existing and new water quality standards. The division will host quarterly feasibility and implementation subgroup meetings.

2025 Feasibility and implementation subgroup meetings - Register to attend on Zoom

  • Thursday, Jan. 23, 2025 | 9 to 11 a.m.
  • Wednesday, April 23, 2025 | 12:30 to 2:30 p.m.
  • Thursday, July 24, 2025 | 9 to 11 a.m.
  • Thursday, Oct. 30, 2025 | 9 to 11 a.m.

Sign up to receive notifications about this effort.

Regulation 85 subgroup

The nutrient control Regulation 85 was adopted in 2012 with the goal of improving water quality by reducing nutrient concentrations in state waters. The current Regulation 85 technology-based effluent limits are set to expire in December 2027. If Regulation 85 were to expire, more stringent nutrient standards for lakes and reservoirs would take effect. The resulting more rigorous permit limits could result in ambiguous regulation for some dischargers. The division agreed with stakeholders that we need more time to evaluate the results from the feasibility and implementation subgroup work to develop a longer-term regulatory approach to reduce nutrients statewide. 

At the 2025 Water Quality Forum annual retreat, stakeholders agreed to a two-phase approach to extending and updating Regulation 85: 

  • Phase 1 (2026-2027) will include stakeholder working group discussions focused on extending the existing Regulation 85 beyond 2027. We plan to revise proposed changes by late 2026 and hold a rulemaking hearing in the fall of 2027.
  • Phase 2 (2028-2029) will include stakeholder working group discussions focused on developing a longer-term statewide nutrient control regulation (e.g., updated Regulation 85). Our goal is to incorporate lessons-learned from the feasibility & implementation efforts and to have a fully developed redline of proposed changes by late 2029 in order to have a rulemaking hearing in the Fall of 2030. 

The division will update and inform stakeholders about working group progress during routine Water Quality Roadmap meetings.

2025 Regulation 85 subgroup meetings - Register to attend on Zoom

  • Kickoff meeting as part of the quarterly Water Quality Roadmap meeting, Thursday, Nov. 20, 2025 | 9 to 10:30 a.m
     

 

Each standard will have a technical advisory committee (TAC) that concentrates on the technical aspects of the standard. To access TAC materials, please click on the respective standard below. Please note that some TACs have yet to start.

If you want to participate in a technical advisory committee, please review the TAC fact sheet and complete the interest form below.

I am interested - Technical Advisory Committee.