Colorado Springs ahead of schedule for 20-year city stormwater improvement plan

COLORADO SPRINGS — The City of Colorado Springs entered an agreement with Pueblo County in 2016 to complete 71 stormwater projects over a 20-year span.

Richard Mulledy, the Stormwater Enterprise Manager for the City of Colorado Springs, said the city is ahead of schedule and has completed half of the projects in the first seven years.

Stormwater Enterprise recently finished the North Douglas Creek restoration project at the end of March. Mulledy said the project was done to slow runoff from neighborhoods up north and to address erosion chipping away at the property of businesses along the creek.

“This is an area that has seen a tremendous amount of degradation over the years. It’s been a project, you know, we’ve known we’ve needed to do it for a long time,” said Mulledy.

Phase One of another restoration project along Cottonwood Creek near Woodmen Road is also wrapping up. Larry McDowell lives in a home backing up to the creek. He said he has noticed the stormwater improvements done by the city over the years.

“I voted for all the stormwater improvements and I’m definitely thinking that it’s going in the right direction,” he said. “My only thing I was ever worried about is it actually, you know, flooding my house. But it hasn’t even come close in any of the time that I’ve lived here.”

Mulledy said next year the city plans to invest $25 million in more creek restoration projects, similar to the work done on North Douglas Creek.

“There’s a large number of creeks, especially on the north side, that we’ll be working on to provide channel stabilization and restoration to do the same thing.”
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