The Chaffee County Board of Commissioners took two actions Tuesday following an annual public hearing regarding BlueTriton Brands bottled-water operations in Chaffee County.

The Commissioners:

  • Placed BlueTriton on probation for failure to comply with the invasive weed mitigation requirement of the County’s 1041 permit and
  • Set a 60-day deadline for the company to clarify corporate ownership issues that might trigger a review of the permit.

The 1041 permit issued by Chaffee County in 2021 allows BlueTriton to take Chaffee County groundwater, transport the water to its Denver plant, bottle the water in plastic and sell it as Arrowhead brand spring water.

During the public comment portion of the public hearing, several local residents stated their belief that the merger of BlueTriton Brands and Primo Water Corp. constitutes a change in ownership, which would require the County Commissioners to review and re-approve the 1041 permit.

Specifically, the permit requires “written consent” for a transfer “to another party.” This condition includes “any change in ownership of the Permittee (BlueTriton Brands) or a 50% or more change in the Permittee’s parent company, including by reason of merger.”

In a November 2024 letter to Deputy County Attorney Linda Knowles, BlueTriton attorney Caitlin Quander stated, “The 1041 Permit will remain unaffected” by the merger with Primo Water.

“BlueTriton’s parent company, Triton Water Parent Holdings, LP,” Quander wrote, “will retain an indirect, majority ownership (57%) in BlueTriton.”

Commissioner Gina Lucrezi acknowledged public comments asserting that agreements allowing BlueTriton to export water from the Arkansas River Basin “amounts to ‘robbing Peter to pay Paul.'”

Lucrezi also said she would like updated information about the current distribution of BlueTriton and Primo ownership among shareholders to demonstrate compliance with 1041 permit requirements.

Commissioner Dave Armstrong asked, “Who benefits from this permit besides … BlueTriton, Primo, etc.?”

Armstrong said he “would personally like to see … the stock equity transfers starting with Nestlé … because that will tell us who owned what when.” He then characterized the “deal” as “muddy, at best.”

PT Wood, chair of the Board of County Commissioners, commented that the BlueTriton report is not the sole source of information for this annual review, which includes expert opinions by the County water attorney, County water engineer and the Upper Arkansas Water Conservancy District.

“That being said, I think there are two areas that are largely out of compliance – the weed piece and, I believe, the ownership piece. I have not gotten a satisfactory answer to the ownership piece.”

Wood said the ownership topic was discussed “extensively” at a work session in December, “and I was expecting some follow-up on it that never occurred.”

The weed issue that Wood referenced stems from a condition established by the 1041 permit that requires BlueTriton to “comply with … all County weed mitigation requirements.”

In a letter from October 2024, Chaffee County Weed Department Director Kayla Malone reported, “Bull thistle flowers and seeds were not removed this summer from the Bighorn Springs sites and were allowed to produce viable seeds. This is a violation of the Chaffee County Weed Management Plan, and this species is required to be fully removed every operating season.”

During the meeting, Tam Pham of BlueTriton presented an overview the company’s annual report, noting that Southwest Conservation Corps workers removed fifteen 55-gallon bags of invasive weeds in June 2024, including bull thistle.

Pham also reported that a contractor, Welltec, removed more than 13 cubic yards of biomass from the BlueTriton property, including invasive weeds.

Given the failure to comply with weed removal requirements, Pham said BlueTriton plans to hire “new contractors that specialize in weed removal for 2025” and have a “registered biologist and ecologist onsite for supervision” during weed removal operations.

Wood also commented, “I drive to Denver all the time. The guys that drive your trucks need some training on just being civil people. When they have 10 cars behind them, get out of the way.” (State law requires drivers to pull over and allow cars to pass whenever they impede 10 vehicles or more.)

Wood added, “No one in this valley asked for this, which makes you guys guests …. You guys should be attempting to be really, really good guests, and I don’t always see that.”

As Pham indicated in his presentation, BlueTriton has played a significant role in the County Road CR 300 Improvement Project. The federally-funded project, scheduled for completion by the end of May, would not have been possible without BlueTriton granting an easement to accommodate blasting and other work to allow two-way traffic into Browns Canyon National Monument at the Ruby Mountain entrance.