Fountain Creek Recovery Project: Development of an Extraordinary Response Program to Mitigate the Impacts of Sanitary Sewer Spills

Colorado Springs Utilities, to address concerns over a series of unfortunate sanitary sewer spills, made the extraordinary commitment of "doing everything possible" to minimize the impact of future spills. They embarked on a program that included a $270 million inspection and maintenance effort along their existing system to actively identify and address vulnerabilities. They also redoubled their training and outreach efforts to assure that staff and the public understood the impact of spills and was properly equipped to avoid them. The final measure was the implementation of the Fountain Creek Recovery Project. This project provides a mechanism to capture a spill directly from the stream by diverting up to 170 cfs (76,000 gpm) of contaminated stream flow. The captured flows are pumped back to a nearby wastewater treatment plant for treatment and release. The implementation of the project enables the full recovery of over 80% of spills that may occur, truly meeting the commitment of "doing everything possible."