Fountain Creek

Fountain Creek is a river in El Paso and Pueblo Counties, in the United States State of Colorado.

Geography

From its source on Pikes Peak, the creek flows northeast to the town of Cascade, Colorado. Next, it turns southeast through a narrow, winding, steep-sided canyon, approximately 3 miles (5km) long. The canyon is also traversed by U.S. Route 24 [http://www.mesalek.com/colo/us24.html] , and was once traversed by the Colorado Midland Train. [http://library.ppld.org/SpecialCollections/manuscriptcollections/mss0166.asp#appendix] Locals confusingly refer to it as "Ute Pass", or just "the pass"; but the actual Ute Pass is some 15 miles (24 km) to the west, along US 24.

On leaving the canyon, Fountain Creek flows through Manitou Springs and into Colorado Springs. In Colorado Springs the creek turns south, after picking up Monument Creek west of downtown Colorado Springs, also picking up Sand Creek (Colorado) in the southern part of the city. It then flows through the eponymous Fountain, Colorado. It then crosses into Pueblo County before finally reaching Pueblo where it joins the Arkansas River.

Water Quality

Water quality in the creek has been a point of contention between the cities of Colorado Springs and Pueblo since at least 1999, when flooding in Colorado Springs caused 70 million gallons of raw sewage to spill into the creek. [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4191/is_20060126/ai_n16040779] . Untreated sewage now spills into the creek an average of 10 times every year [http://www.gazette.com/articles/plant_24138___article.html/wastewater_pipes.html] . Tests in 2007 by the Pueblo City-County Health Department found levels of the E. Coli bacterium more than twice the state limit in some parts of the creek. [http://www.co.pueblo.co.us/pcchd/surface_water/2007%20Fountain%20Creek%20Test%20Results.pdf]

External links

* [http://www.stevegarufi.com/fountaincreek.htm Pictures from stevegarufi.com]
*http://www.manitoucafe.com/fountain-creek.htm