Growth under Fry-Ark tied to Fountain woes

Colorado Springs mayor, Pueblo district attorney offer vastly different views.

By CHRIS WOODKA
THE PUEBLO CHIEFTAIN

The growth of Colorado Springs and its impact on Fountain Creek was tied squarely to the Fryingpan-Arkansas Project during a congressional subcommittee hearing in Pueblo Friday.

Two of the witnesses at the hearing, Colorado Springs Mayor Lionel Rivera and Pueblo District Attorney Bill Thiebaut addressed the issue of Fountain Creek head-on.

“As our cities have grown, tremendous strains have been placed on our water infrastructures,” Rivera told the panel in his written remarks. “In Colorado Springs for example, we have in years past seen catastrophic weather events and even vandalism plague our wastewater system, resulting in sewer overflows into Fountain Creek.”

Rivera noted the city has spent millions on capital projects to repair nearly 1,500 miles of sewer lines and to protect them from storms.

He went on blame part of the degradation of Fountain Creek on agriculture, citing U.S. Army Corps of Engineers reports, but cited ways in which Colorado Springs is trying to work with farmers.

Thiebaut sees it differently.

“Instead of being an amenity for downstream communities, Fountain Creek is more like an open sewer running through Pueblo,” Thiebaut told the committee.

Thiebaut filed a federal lawsuit against Colorado Springs in 2005 and is battling Colorado Springs attorneys to gain standing already granted to the Sierra Club in a parallel lawsuit.

Under questioning from Rep. Doug Lamborn, R-Colo., who represents Colorado Springs, Thiebaut rejected the idea of a “double standard.”

“Given that there have been pollution spills in your own county, wouldn’t you agree it’s a double standard?” Lamborn asked.

“Let me assure you, if I believed there were violations of law affecting anyone’s health of welfare in my district, I would take action,” Thiebaut said.

Thiebaut said the magnitude of the violations - 73 million gallons in 100 spills at the time the lawsuit was filed - convinced him to take legal action.

Rivera countered that most of the volume from the spills occurred during a series of storms in 1999. In response to a question by the subcommittee’s chairman, Rep. Grace Napolitano, D-Calif., Rivera said Colorado Springs has a good track record for conservation, as well as reuse of some wastewater for public landscaping and power plants.

Alluding to state compliance orders which have required Colorado Springs to meet certain deadlines on wastewater repairs since 2003, Thiebaut criticized the federal government’s stance on water quality control in Colorado.

“We must recognize the value of preserving high-quality waters, stop gutting the power of water quality administrators and provide adequate funding and teeth for enforcement,” Thiebaut said. “The Fryingpan-Arkansas Project must be managed and evolved to support these goals, not work to defeat them.”

Asked to expand on that remark by Rep. Mark Udall, D-Colo., Thiebaut replied:

“What I’m experiencing is that our state regulators are sitting down with the polluters to try to fix the problems,” Thiebaut said. “I find it odd there is no public engagement until only after a deal is cut.”