UPDATE: Colorado Springs, El Paso County officials address flooding concerns, solutions

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) -- (UPDATE: Tuesday, Aug. 30)

El Paso County Commissioners voted Tuesday to make long-needed repairs to a concrete drainage channel through the Security-Widefield community.

To do the repairs, the county reached an agreement with the Security Water & Sanitation District and Fountain Valley Investment Partners, LLC; the latter is the listed owner of the property referred to as the Security Ditch.

Commissioners declared that the county will make repairs to address safety and private property concerns raised by constant flooding along the ditch.

The county and Security Water disagree on which is responsible for maintaining the ditch; in reaching the agreement, the county assumes no responsibility for future repairs and maintenance and will fund repairs with available federal money from the American Rescue Plan Act.

The Security Ditch has an interesting history.

According to documents in the agreement, the ditch dates back to 1961, when Security Water acquired an easement for drainage in the area and the easement was transferred to the county in 1972.

At some undetermined date afterward, the concrete-lined ditch was built and apparently there are no records to indicate who built it and when.

The county and Security Water disagree on the transfer of the original easement.

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Richard Mulledy, the city's stormwater manager, explained Wednesday why some areas of the city are more susceptible to street flooding during heavy rain storms like the area experienced Tuesday.

"Some of it is storm drains that are too small because they were built a long time ago," he said. "And the city has grown since then, so the infrastructure occasionally isn't sufficient to handle a lot of rain in a short period of time."

Mulledy said that debris clogging drains, channels and sewers also contribute to flooding.

"We've had weather events that have knocked down trees, limbs and branches," he said. "That debris can accumulate and clog the system. What makes it worse is when people cleaning up debris from their yards throw their debris into the drainages. We ask people to avoid doing that."

The city has made significant progress, Mulledy said, on improving stormwater infrastructure to reduce flooding.

"On a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the best, I'd day we're between 7 and 9," he said.

Mulledy also provided updates on plans to address three areas notorious for flooding -- Tia Juana Street, near Citadel Mall; Siferd Boulevard, near the intersection of Academy Boulevard and Austin Bluffs Parkway; and sections of Hancock Expressway.

"We hope to start working on those in the next few years," he said. "As soon as we finish designs and allocate the funding. On Tia Juana, we need to upgrade the infrastructure that's decades old. That will cost around $4 million. Siferd will be a joint project with El Paso County that will cost around $10 million. Options there are to close the Siferd/Date Street intersection, build a bridge over it or redirect the drainage through there."

Currently at that intersection, closure gates are installed and the Colorado Springs Fire Department manages those gates during flash flood warnings.

Mulledy said that resolving flooding on Hancock will require building a retention basin to hold runoff temporarily and gradually drain it into the stormwater system.

"The issue there is that there isn't any land available in the area to do that," he said.

Kieran Martin, a manager at Fargo's Pizza along Tia Juana Street, is glad to hear that when it comes to addressing flooding there, she can see the light at the end of the tunnel -- or of the stormwater pipe.

"I think it definitely has a huge effect," she said. "We either have to kind of shove everyone out and don't let anyone in, or we have to rush everyone in through the doors and have everyone either packed in like sardines or just uncomfortable. Our parking lot gets flooded."

Sabrina Evans works at the Crossroads Animal Hospital near the Siferd Boulevard intersection.

"I wouldn't want it closed because that would suck for a lot of people who use that route regularly," she said. "I get clients who come in, and they're frustrated that the gate's closed and we don't tell them."

Another longtime flooding problem is along the concrete drainage channel that holds runoff from Security-Widefield; sections of the channel are crumbling eroding and full of debris.

Jack Ladley, deputy director of public works for El Paso County, said that he hopes a repair project will start before the end of the year.

"The county, the local water district and the property owner have to agree on it," Ladley said. "Once the work is finished, the drainage will improve and the flooding will be reduced because there won't be anything in the channel to slow the flow of water. We're also going to look at better controlling the flow of runoff into and out of the main retention basin."

Preliminary cost estimates for the project are between $3.5 million and $5 million.

Ladley said that the county also will conduct a county-wide drainage study to assess overall needs and plan future projects.

"As soon as I get the approval, I want to start that," he said. "It will cost between $250,000 and $500,000, depending on how detailed it is."

On Thursday, in anticipation of more rain, county crews used heavy equipment to clean debris and sediment from channels connecting to the main drainage channel.