New environmental regulations have the Pueblo Waste Water Treatment Plant making upgrades. The facility will soon be faced with having to remove ammonia and other nutrients from waste water dumped back into the Arkansas River. Currently, they are unequipped to follow the new rules, and will be constructing facilities to comply. "What we do right now, we pass it through the system fairly quickly. In the future when we start doing ammonia removal we're going to have to retain the water for an extra 24 to 48 hours, to let the bacteria that do that work," says Gene Michael, waste water director for the city of Pueblo.

In order to save money, the original waste water plant, that has been inactive for about 20 years, will be demolished and the land filled in. In its place, a field of 1,800 three-by-five-foot solar panels will be erected. A company out of Arvada, Colorado will be in charge of the demolition and construction. "We are using a lot of local vendors for concrete, for structural fill, the core drilling subcontractors, a lot of local subs will be used in this project," says Shane Fobes, Vice President and Division Manager for MW Solar.

In order to pay for the project, the city of Pueblo has secured a no-interest loan and money from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. "In terms of bang for your buck, an interest free loan is a good way to go," says Pueblo City Manager Jerry Pacheco. The total amount of money being spent on the project is nearly $1.5 million. It's expected to save the city between $80,000 and $100,000 every year. Pacheco says, those savings should eventually be seen by the citizens who pay user fees.