Pueblo – When Bea Roybal was a kid, she and her friends used to swing across Fountain Creek on a rope tied to a tree branch and then drop into the cool water.
“You know, just like Tarzan,” she said.
Today, Roybal, 74, says she wouldn’t ever let her grandchildren venture into “the Fountain,” which is choked with sediment and high levels of bacteria.
Testing two weeks ago of Fountain Creek as it flows through Pueblo revealed levels of E. coli bacteria that were 13 times higher than what state water-quality standards allow.
“Right now, we are erring on the side of caution and advising people to stay away,” said Sarah Bruestle, a local health department spokeswoman.
Fountain Creek has become the latest flash point of a strained relationship between Colorado Springs and Pueblo – two cities that frequently have sparred over water.
The tensions culminated over the summer when Pueblo District Attorney Bill Thiebaut threatened to sue the Colorado Springs water utility over pollution violations linked to the creek. A decision on the lawsuit is expected to be made by early October.
“Pueblo has always seen itself as this poor, red-headed stepchild, while Colorado Springs holds all money and power,” said Margaret Mora, a Pueblo community organizer. “Today, the fight happens to be about water.”
The two cities also are at odds over a controversial $940 million water project, which many in Pueblo believe is Colorado Springs’ attempt to sustain its booming population by sucking the Arkansas River Valley dry.
The 43-mile pipeline, known as the Southern Delivery System, would allow Colorado Springs to pump water it owns in the Pueblo, Twin Lakes and Turquoise reservoirs.
The water is expected to create a 40-year supply for Colorado Springs and El Paso County.
“What has happened to the Arkansas Valley over the years is a crime,” said Bob Rawlings, publisher of The Pueblo Chieftain, which has hired a Washington law firm to lobby against the pipeline. “Keeping water in the valley is crucial to our future.”
Rawlings and other Pueblo leaders believe the fate of Fountain Creek is intertwined into the Southern Delivery System Project.
They are advocating that the pipeline’s intake structure be moved to below the confluence of Fountain Creek and the Arkansas River. That way, the Chieftain has argued on its editorial page, Colorado Springs will have more incentive to make sure the water it discharges into the creek stays clean.
But Colorado Springs utility officials say moving the intake structure will cost at least an additional $435 million dollars and do little to solve the Fountain’s pollution.
“There’s so much emotion around this issue, it’s really hard to talk about the facts,” said Jerry Forte, the utility’s manager. “But the fact is what’s coming into that creek is coming from a number of sources.”
The water utility was the first to be singled out as a potential culprit following spills this summer that sent 377,000 gallons of untreated sewage into the creek.
Since then, utility officials have met with Pueblo leaders to discuss $25 million in improvements being made to the Colorado Springs system.
The Colorado Springs City Council also is considering creating a storm-water utility to better manage water drainage.
State environmental regulators say the sources of Fountain Creek’s woes probably are more complicated than blaming Colorado Springs and include wildlife waste and runoff from lawns, farms, new homes and businesses.
The Pueblo health department detected high levels of bacteria in Fountain Creek this summer – even when the Colorado Springs utility hadn’t had any wastewater problems.
Similarly, the U.S. Geological Survey has found high bacteria levels scattered throughout the 927-square mile Fountain Creek watershed, which stretches from Palmer Divide down to Pueblo.
“It’s not uncommon to see high levels of E. coli in this watershed,” said Pat Edelmann of the U.S. Geological Survey in Pueblo.
Many residents who live in Pueblo’s East Side neighborhood are growing frustrated by the lack of answers regarding Fountain Creek, which flows near their homes.
Community organizer Mora, who lives in the East Side, said the health department’s warning to stay out of Fountain Creek is particularly hard on the residents of the mostly Hispanic neighborhood.
“People in Pueblo fish in the river; they hang out by the river,” Mora said. “So it’s not just about the water for us – it’s about our identity.”
Roybal, who has lived in the East Side all her life, said Fountain Creek got muddier and smellier about 15 years ago.
“We all stay away from the river now,” she said. “And it’s very sad because we used to have such a good time there.”
Staff writer Kim McGuire can be reached at 303-820-1240 or kmcguire@denverpost.com.
