Disagreement leads to Fountain Creek in Pueblo left with debris

Debris is filling up Fountain Creek in Pueblo, but a disagreement between agencies in Pueblo and El Paso County over the cleanup of the creek means no one knows who’ll be responsible.

Pueblo County Commissioner and Fountain Creek Watershed District member Terry Hart said the disagreement started after the devastating floods in El Paso County almost two years ago. He said FEMA would give disaster money to El Paso County, but not Pueblo County because Pueblo was not as devastated, even though Pueblo had debris all over its part of Fountain Creek.

Hart said Pueblo doesn’t have the money for the cleanup and the city and county feel it is the agencies in El Paso County’s responsibility to clear it since it is their debris.

Hart said El Paso County, Colorado Springs and Colorado Springs Utilities feel they shouldn’t take care of it because it is out of their jurisdiction.

“We need to bring it to a head and make a final conclusion on who is doing what. The springs rains can hit, we can have a flood and there will be more finger-pointing. That’s not good for the taxpayers so we need to figure it out,” he said.

Fountain Creek runs from Teller County through El Paso County to Pueblo County and feeds into the Arkansas River.