Gold Hill Mesa residents pick up piles of trash
Read more: Local, State, Community, Environment, Colorado Springs, Fountain Creek, Cleanup, Gold Hill Mesa, Adopt a Waterway, Sotrmwater Enterprise, Colorado Springs
COLORADO SPRINGS, COLO. -- Potential flooding and pollution are two major problems plaguing Fountain Creek in Colorado Springs.
Today several organizations kicked off a major restoration project to address both issues.
The Stormwater Enterprise, Gold Hill Mesa and Department of Transportation are teaming up on a $2.7 million restoration project.
They hope to reduce flooding and erosion, improve water quality by reducing pollution, and stabilize the overall condition of the creek and surrounding area.
Through the mud, water, and plants, these volunteers fished out all the trash they could find during Saturday's groundbreaking event.
"A lot of plastic bottles, a lot of styrofoam," said a volunteer.
"I've got a glove and another sandal in the bag," said a volunteer.
"Quite a bit of normal stuff that probably floated down," said a volunteer.
"Dog dish, glove, a lot of people don't realize everything ends up in the water ways," said Storm Water Specialist Jeff Besse.
What stays in the waterways is going to be a different story now that The Stormwater Enterprise has officially begun its adopt a waterways project.
"Anything we can do to get that out of the creek and help out water quality because we have a plant habitat and wildlife habitat, fish habitat that depend on good water quality," said Stormwater Enterprise Manager Ken Sampley.
Gold Hill Mesa is one of the first communities to participate by adopting the creek 8TH through 21ST Streets off of Cimarron.
"We can see this area, so we wanted to make it nicer so we can walk along it and enjoy it," said Gold Hill Mesa Resident Kevin Pridgeon.
In addition to picking up the junk, the storm water enterprise will be stabilizing the river bank.
"There is so much damage through there. There is a lot of flooding and they are trying to minimize that," Besse said.
"We're using some concrete rubble so we can bury it underneath, and put dirt above it so we can actually grow vegetation on top of it, and stabilize the bank," Sampley said.
The end goal is to give back to the environment.
"We can't continue to withdraw from all Colorado Springs has to offer and never give back," said Gold Hill Mesa Resident Pat Foltz.
This group is giving by taking piles of trash out in just one hour.
There are actually 56 drainage basins and waterways you can sign up to adopt.
To get involved you can call Jeff Besse at (719) 385-5566, or visit www.springsgov.com/stormwater.
