High levels of E. Coli in areas of upper Fountain Creek

The cold Rocky Mountain streamwater rolling down Ute Pass is not as clean and pristine as one might think.

A federal water-quality study of upper Fountain Creek was released Thursday, revealing levels of the bacteria E. coli above state standards along the entire stretch, and three times higher downstream from Manitou Springs.

“It tells us there’s poop in the water,” said Don Stoeckel, U.S. Geological Survey research hydrologist.

Stoeckel studied a 12-mile stretch from Green Mountain Falls to the confluence with Monument Creek below Eighth Street. In the summer, almost the entire stretch exceeded state standards, and the stretch from Ruxton Creek in Manitou Springs was more than three times the standard.

Spring and winter samples were not as widespread, but contamination was found in the lower portion for both seasons, as well, and sporadically above Manitou.

“People who fish and wade in the creek do so at their own risk,” Stoeckel said.

E. coli causes an estimated 73,480 illnesses each year in the United States, leading to about 2,168 hospitalizations and 61 deaths annually.

Researchers have not identified the source of the contamination — that is the next part of the study.

They will conduct DNA testing on the samples to determine if the source is human and try to determine sources.

Rich Muzzy, environmental projects manager for the Pikes Peak Area Council of Governments, one of the sponsors, said there are no obvious sources, such as a sewage plant. But researchers found a cracked sewer line in Manitou Springs draining into the creek, at a point where levels were three times above state standards.

Manitou Springs public services director John McMinn acknowledged that leaking sewage may be at least partly to blame.

“I think we’ve got work to do in Manitou Springs on infrastructure, both city and homeowners, and people need to be more aware of what’s going in the creek,” he said.

Officials have not ruled out animal sources, and McMinn noted there are many raccoons in Manitou that use storm drains as roads.

Jenny Kedward, chairwoman of the Sangre de Cristo chapter of the Sierra Club in Pueblo, was disappointed that researchers had not already analyzed the samples to determine if the source is human.

“I think it’s all sources, but I think there should be some repairs to sewer lines,” she said. “If it’s human-caused, it’s that.”

The $450,000 study was sponsored by Colorado Springs, Colorado Springs Utilities, the USGS, the Pikes Peak Area Council of Governments and the Colorado Department of Health and Environment.

Fountain Creek drains 927 square miles in Teller, El Paso and Pueblo counties and empties into the Arkansas River in Pueblo.

Pueblo officials have long blamed contamination here for high E. coli levels there.

When the creek flooded in Pueblo in May 2007, the Pueblo City-County Health Department warned that the water is contaminated with higher than normal levels of E. coli bacteria and should be avoided.

The final report on the sources of contamination is expected in May 2009.

CONTACT THE WRITER: 476-1605 or scott.rappold@gazette.com