Break in rain allows progress in sediment basin cleaning
For the first time this wet year, Colorado Springs, El Paso County and the Colorado Department of Transportation have removed sediment from nearly all of their retention basins.
The progress means area municipalities are better prepared to handle the next heavy rain.
Most of the basins were built after flooding from the Waldo Canyon Fire in 2012 and the Black Forest Fire in 2013. The basins are near creeks or drainage areas and designed to trap rocks, branches and other debris.
Rainy weather earlier this year filled the basins sooner than normal. The soggy ground made it difficult for workers to use heavy equipment to remove the sediment.
The combination of factors caused workers to spend weeks at a time, cleaning the basins.
At CDOT’s Fern Gulch basin on U.S. 24 in Ute Pass, workers recently increased its capacity so it doesn’t need cleaning as often.
“We’ve cleaned our basins between four and nine times each,” James Schwab, a supervisor, said. “This one can hold at least 200 dump trucks of material. But it’s an ongoing job. The sediment coming down is endless.”
Fern Gulch is one of several locations along the highway that produced flooding and debris flows serious enough to close the highway in the first year after the Waldo Canyon Fire.
Colorado Springs has cleaned four of its five basins, according to Tim Mitros, the city’s storm water manager.
“Except for the Camp Creek one, which our Streets Division is going to get,” he said. “But the rest of them have been cleaned. We hired a contractor to do it, otherwise it would have taken us a long time.”
El Paso County has 33 sediment basins and flood control ponds, according to spokesman Baaron Pittenger. He said in some cases, workers are cleaning them out more often because of additional sediment from damaged drainage channels.
“One area along (U.S.) 24 is being cleared every two to three weeks (instead of ) every three months,” Pittenger said.
Officials said basins generally help keep sediment and debris out of local drainage systems, causing flooding that can threaten lives and property.
The municipalities acquired millions of dollars in federal grants and emergency funds to pay for building the basins.
