Now the Other Pond...

...What is it with El Paso County and our ponds that we can’t keep them clean?

It was reported recently approximately 10,000 gallons of untreated sewage from the Fountain Valley School was spilled, and from what I could see it appeared to surface from manholes at two locations.
It was also reported that the public was notified on December 21st. Could be, but the county was notified on December 28th.

The Environmental Services Director got the call from El Paso County Health Department (a division of the state, not the county despite the name) late Friday evening.

A call to the Fountain Valley School quickly determined they did not have the expertise to deal with the spill so the Environmental Services Department coordinated and participated with the El Paso County Hazardous Materials Response Team on Saturday the 29th  to neutralize the sewage with lime. The affected areas were cordoned off with yellow caution tape and signs explaining the issue. The Parks Department continues to monitor the barriers at the sites.

What comes next is in flux, the portion of the spill south of Fontaine Road will be pretty easy to cleanup possibly/probably with some excavation, replenishing of the topsoil and reseeding. The wetlands and pond to the north is a bigger challenge. While we did neutralize the spill in the wetland area we won’t be going back in until we receive permission from the Army Corps of Engineers (you don’t mess with wet lands). We also have an ice covered pond, McCrea Reservoir (not McGregor as had been reported), and of course there is a nice little stream flowing out of the reservoir through the park.

 The Environmental Services folks have a saying about “dilution is not the solution to pollution”, in other words clean it up don’t just water it down. However, in this case given the ice and the time it will take to come up with an approved cleanup plan including permission to work in the wetlands, we may find the water has “cleaned” up itself by diluting the few thousand gallons that actually entered the water with the hundreds of thousands of gallons that flow through the pond. There is no visual impact or odor from the stream, but bear in mind none of the ponds and streams in El Paso County are approved for swimming and drinking and this would not be the time and place to make an exception. There will still be some contaminated soil to be dealt with around the pond and in the wetlands, but if it was easy we wouldn’t need the expertise of the Environmental Services Department.

I will report back when we have an approved mitigation plan in place. The park is safe and in fact was being used by dozens of people when I walked the full length of the stream last Friday. There was some odor next to the contaminated sites, which may continue to be the case on warm days this winter, but only within a few feet of the caution tape. We will also be continuing our discussion with Fountain Valley School regarding reimbursement of the cleanup cost.

CONTACT THE WRITER • HISEY4CD4@MSN.COM

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