Toilets set downtown in effort to keep human waste from creeks

As the homeless camps have grown along Monument and Fountain creeks in recent months, so have concerns about the environmental and public health impacts of human waste.

With few nearby public rest rooms, many of the more than 120 people living in the camps appear to be relieving themselves in and along the creeks, and the consequences could be worse than the foul smell.

“I’m concerned about the possibility of an E. coli outbreak,” said Bob Holmes, executive director of the homeless advocacy group Homeward Pikes Peak.

E. coli is a bacteria found in human and animal gastrointestinal tracts that can sicken and kill people if consumed. All of Fountain Creek and the portion of Monument Creek south of Mesa Road are already listed as impaired by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment for high levels of E. coli.

Holmes recounted some horror stories of camp sanitation: 13 buckets of human waste found along Monument Creek; a downed tree near East Las Vegas Street serving as a commode, where the waste was 18 inches deep; underpasses where the walls are serving as toilet and toilet paper. He said police issue citations, but they are rare, because officers have to catch someone in the act.

City resident Janis Heuberger, a real estate agent, has filed a complaint with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and sent Colorado Springs City Council members and The Gazette photos of makeshift toilets and toilet paper along the creeks.

“We’re talking about fecal bacteria, we’re talking about E. coli, as well as garbage, in our water systems,” Heuberger said.

“I think the city needs to disconnect with love and enforce the laws and uphold the laws and let the agencies come up with the conclusions. But in the meantime we’re letting them use our creeks as a human waste dumping ground, and I have huge issues with that,” she said.

Councilman Larry Small, the vice-mayor, is a board member of the Fountain Creek Watershed District, formed last year to address flooding and water quality on the creek.

“I think we’re going to have to take some action in association with that,” said Small, who plans to bring up the issue at Monday’s city council meeting.

“The pictures I’ve seen are pretty appalling. It’s pretty unacceptable. I don’t think anyone, no matter what their circumstances, should exhibit that kind of behavior,” Small said.

It is unclear how the camps have impacted water quality in the creeks.

Many urban creeks in Colorado have E. coli problems, and it’s not always related to human waste, said Steve Gunderson, director of the state’s Water Quality Control Division. Pets, livestock and sewer lines are other possible culprits.

A recent study of E. coli in upper Fountain Creek, upstream of the homeless camps, pointed to a large pigeon population in Manitou Springs as the likely source. DNA testing was used to link the bacteria to the birds, a technique officials hope to use on the lower creek and in Monument Creek.

E. coli levels recorded in regular sampling last summer were not noticeably higher than in recent years, Gunderson said. Levels spike in summer.

Once the state completes a study of E. coli sources, it can mandate clean-up if individual, or “point,” sources are found, such as a sewage plant or leaking sewage line. But if it comes from “non-point” sources it will take a broader community effort, Gunderson said.

Holmes, some residents and police are hoping for that community effort.

Three portable toilets were placed south of downtown Friday in a trial program, They were paid for by private individuals, said Officer Brett Iverson of the Colorado Springs Police Department’s Homeless Outreach Team.

“It has been tried in the past, but they were destroyed in a matter of days,” he said.

Holmes sees portable toilets as a “temporary and cursory” solution. He said the long-term answer is getting the camps shut down and the inhabitants moved into more permanent shelter.

“We want to move people out of those tent cities. It’s exceedingly unhealthy. There’s a lot of violence that is happening down there that is not getting reported on,” he said. “It’s not a healthy place for people to be.”

Small said the dumping of human waste in the creek “is going to have to stop almost immediately,” and while he was not in support of a proposed ordinance to ban camping, he wants to see alternatives presented to remove the necessity of the camps.