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Fountain Creek
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Improving and Protecting Fountain Creek
Colorado Springs has acted aggressively in recent years to resolve
past problems with Fountain Creek. SDS-related mitigation and the
creation of the new Fountain Creek Flood Control and Greenway District
to oversee improvements to the creek promise to bring even more
enhancements.
In the mid 1990s, Colorado Springs Utilities spent more than $40
million to upgrade our wastewater treatment plant. And since 2000,
we’ve spent more than $100 million upgrading our wastewater
collection system. The net result: The water we put into Fountain
Creek today is cleaner than the water already there for most constituents.
And we’re not done. By 2025, we will have invested $250 million
over 20 years in our wastewater collection system.
Colorado Springs has also made big investments to control wastewater
spills that could affect the creek. We’re the only utility
in Colorado and one of the few in the country that has a wastewater
spill-recovery program that protects the environment in the event
of an accidental wastewater spill and prevents it from reaching
downstream neighbors. In 2007, we spent $10 million on a wastewater
spill-recovery project on Fountain Creek. As a result of these efforts,
wastewater spills per miles of pipe in our system are among the
lowest in the country.
And we will be able to contain the vast majority of the few wastewater
spills that do occur.
Additionally, the City of Colorado Springs is investing $17 million
annually from the Storm Water Enterprise, inaugurated in 2006, to
further reduce flooding severity, reduce stream erosion and sedimentation
and improve water quality.

State-of-the-art treatment facilities
help ensure that we treat the water we use to a high standard
– meeting and often exceeding state and federal regulations
– before returning it to Fountain Creek. |
Regional Cooperation
Meaningful, long-term solutions for the Fountain Creek Watershed
will come from continued regional cooperation. By working together
on regional solutions, we’ll turn our waterways into amenities
we can all be proud of and enjoy. Colorado Springs Utilities has
made a major investment in staff time, expertise and funding on
the following programs to improve the creek:
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The Fountain Creek Vision Task Force is studying
strategies for addressing issues related to improving Fountain
Creek. One early benefit has been to bring concerned parties
from communities throughout the watershed together to work on
coordinated solutions – something that didn’t happen
in the past. Colorado Springs supports the creation of a regionwide
watershed entity to further the strategies of the Vision Task
Force. |
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The Fountain Creek Foundation was formed
by several individuals committed to the watershed to attract
private funding for outreach and educational purposes. But that
entity alone won’t shoulder the entire burden of funding
and implementing the goals of the Vision Task Force. For that
reason, Colorado Springs supports the Vision Task Force’s
goal to form a regional organization to improve the Fountain
Creek watershed. |
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The Fountain Creek Corridor Master Plan is
a joint $600,000 project of Colorado Springs Utilities and the
Lower Arkansas Valley Water Conservancy District (LAVWCD) to
develop a master plan that will turn Fountain Creek into a showcase
park and recreational amenity. The master plan, to be unveiled
in Fall 2008, will provide a blueprint to improve the health
of the watershed, create ecosystems that support native wildlife
and plants, sustain productive agricultural lands and lay out
a trail between Colorado Springs and Pueblo with recreational,
educational and tourism opportunities. |
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The Fountain Creek Watershed Plan Technical
Advisory Committee is composed of technical representatives
from the cities and counties along the Fountain Creek Watershed,
including Colorado Springs. The group reviews and provides input
on technical issues. |
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