Police say Pueblo’s Fountain Creek cleanup was worse than anticipated

PUEBLO, Colo. (KRDO) -- The City of Pueblo is working on clean-up efforts at Fountain Creek. According to police, the amount of trash and the overall health hazard at the river bottom was worse than anticipated.

Monday, the Pueblo Police Department said they found trash, hazardous waste, needles, and more in the area.

They spent the day filling front-end loaders and dumpsters with the debris.

"There's several piles of trash. There's broken carts from different stores around the area, as well as furniture and just a whole host of things that we didn't expect to find," said Cpt. Dustin Taylor with the Pueblo Police Department.

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Taylor said it's not safe for anyone to be down there.

"We have to clean up this area. It's not safe for them to be down there. It's not safe for people to stay in this area. That's why we've asked them to reach out to these resources, to hopefully find out something they can do," said Taylor.

PPD said it's essential to connect people experiencing homelessness with resources, especially as were headed into the colder months.

"It is actually a floodplain. So when if we do get heavy rains or we get a flood through this area, people can get hurt by debris. They can take all the trash that's in this area and shift it downstream to other communities, which is unsafe for them as well," said Taylor.

Some, however, questioned whether or not this clean-up will solve the problem.

Paul Montoya, an advocate for people experiencing homelessness, said that he thinks the area needs to be cleaned up. But he also has concerns about where the homeless will go now that Fountain Creek is being cleaned out.

"These people are going to be pushed somewhere else in the city. It might cause more problems. You know, and I feel bad for them," said Montoya.

Montoya said the resources the city is giving out are not a permanent fix, but he says it's a good start. He said he knows some people experiencing homelessness who choose to use the resources provided by the City of Pueblo. Still, many people in that situation aren't using the resources.

"I know some of them that have been here for ten years. You know, it's a long time to be homeless on this river bottom, and this is the only thing they know," said Montoya.

The PPD said this will be the biggest cleanup they have had in years and is expected to go on until Friday.