A mishap during maintenance at Glenwood Hot Springs sent an estimated 190 gallons of bleach-tainted pool water into the Colorado River, killing fish.
“We have a lot of bigger spills than that, but it’s enough to cause a fish kill, and a fish kill is a fairly serious thing,” Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment water quality director Steve Gunderson said.
State wildlife officials collected 84 dead rainbow and brown trout, suckers and whitefish along the river. Colorado’s Division of Wildlife is conducting an investigation and may pursue civil or criminal charges, agency spokesman Randy Hampton said.
Glenwood Hot Springs chief operating officer and general manager Kjell Mitchell said a citizen noticed dead fish and reported the problem Tuesday afternoon. Hot springs officials reported the spill to state authorities, Mitchell said.
“We have a discharge at the river, which is a pipeline which connects from the pool and goes to the river,” he said. “This was an inadvertent accident. This hasn’t ever happened before. We’re going to take steps to ensure it never happens again.”
People weren’t harmed. The pool is expected to re-open Thursday.
