Residents along and agencies involved with managing Fountain Creek are trying to look into the future and gauge the impacts of more development and more treatment plants planned by Colorado Springs, according to the Pueblo Chieftain. From the article, "Colorado Springs is planning a 10 million gallon per day treatment plant at Clear Springs Ranch by 2012 to serve the first round of new development on the Banning-Lewis Ranch, a 24,000-acre development on the eastern edge of Colorado Springs several miles north. Eventually, about 55,000 homes are planned for Banning-Lewis and the capacity of the wastewater plant will be increased to 30 mgd, said Colorado Springs Utilities spokesman Steve Berry. Colorado Springs now is building a 20 mgd wastewater treatment plant at Garden of the Gods, to handle sewer discharge in the northern part of the city. Plans call for eventually increasing it to 30 mgd as well. Colorado Springs's current plant is licensed by the state for discharges of up to 75 mgd, but averages about 47 mpg. By comparison, Pueblo's permit is for 19 mgd, with an average discharge of 11 mgd...
"The Colorado Department of Health and Public Environment looks at overall water quality on any stream it monitors, and says the everyday discharges of plants along Fountain Creek are in compliance. But the Colorado Water Quality Commission earlier this year listed the portion of Fountain Creek in El Paso County as impaired for E. coli bacteria. Without DNA testing, it is not certain of the source of the bacteria, although some say it may be washing from the stream banks as flows increase. On many days, there might be no flows in Fountain Creek without sewer releases, making it more difficult to evaluate what the natural conditions of the stream might be...
"Critics downstream from the development say the state already may be behind in dealing with year-round flows on what used to be an intermittent creek, saying the state needs to require action on the overloaded system. 'My initial reaction is that unless something significant is done, the chances of getting any of those new permits are slim to nil,' said Ross Vincent, senior consultant for the Sierra Club in Pueblo. The Sierra Club is suing Colorado Springs in federal court for past sewage spills, which have averaged more than 10 per year and dumped more than 73 million gallons of untreated effluent into Fountain Creek since 1998. Part of the remedy sought by the Sierra Club is to restructure the way discharges are made into Fountain Creek or to change the way the Fountain channels handle water, Vincent said. 'They're not going to get away with ignoring the flood risk and property damage. At some point the feds, either the Corps of Engineers or the Environmental Protection Agency, would have to step in if nothing is done,' Vincent said. The increased flows would also aggravate water quality - levels of sediment and selenium - in Fountain Creek, Vincent said...
"In fact, there are already federal concerns about the situation on Fountain Creek. The Bureau of Reclamation added components to its environmental impact statement review of the Southern Delivery System last year, since much of the water that may be flowing in Fountain Creek in years to come would be delivered by a proposed pipeline from Pueblo Dam. Colorado Springs, Security and Fountain would benefit from an additional 68 million to 78 million gallons of water daily through SDS, a figure that closely matches the 67 million gallons of additional effluent that could be coming down Fountain Creek in 40 years' time. Solutions ranging from building a return flow pipeline to the Arkansas River - either down Fountain Creek or along Colorado Highway 115 - to requiring Colorado Springs to recycle its water and contain flood flows have been suggested during the SDS environmental review. Recycling return flows for potable drinking water is part of the Colorado Springs 1996 Water Resources Plan, and was put on the back burner as planning for SDS progressed. Officials have repeatedly said the recycling plan is too costly and does not meet their criteria for pipeline redundancy and water rights development...
"In lieu of SDS, [Consultant Ray] Petros has suggested a flood control reservoir and wetlands along Fountain Creek to filter water in order to alleviate the worst of sewage and flood impacts downstream. The reservoir could tie into a water recycling system. Colorado Springs has resisted that plan, sticking to its pipeline plan as its preferred alternative. The city is constructing an inflatable dam to corral sewage spills, but it will not be used to reduce base flows or to capture flood waters. Colorado Springs also is developing a stormwater enterprise to correct existing problems that cause erosion or sedimentation and to plan for drainage from future development. Meanwhile, the Fountain Creek Watershed Study has identified many of the problems caused by increased flows, but no projects to cope with the damage."
Category: Colorado Water
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