With washed out Sand Creek as the backdrop, city and county officials pledged Tuesday to work together to come up with a solution to the region’s stormwater needs.

“For decades, there have been discussions about stormwater in this area,” El Paso County Commission Chairwoman Amy Lathen said during the so-called Sand Creek Summit, where officials met under a tent next to the creek near Airport Road.

“We have had a number of different things that have been done, and we have had a lot of things that have not been done. Today, we are embarking on a new discussion,” she said.

Officials chose Sand Creek for the summit to show erosion problems there that include, among other things, exposed Utilities lines. Various agencies are pooling resources to address the problems there.

A regional stormwater task force that met for the first time last week plans to compile a list by the end of the year of the infrastructure capital improvement needs in the region and how much money each government entity can contribute to address the problem, said City Councilwoman Brandy Williams. The task force’s next meeting is in September.

“Water knows no boundaries,” Williams said. “Therefore, we need a regional solution to address our stormwater needs, and I’m excited to get started.”

Efforts to develop a regional stormwater solution come as the city of Colorado Springs and Colorado Springs Utilities face increasing pressure from Pueblo County and others downstream to deal with an estimated $500 million stormwater infrastructure backlog.

The Southern Delivery System, an underground water pipeline that Springs Utilities is building to move water from Pueblo Reservoir to Colorado Springs, is being used as a bargaining chip.  

Most recently, the board of the Lower Arkansas Valley Water Conservancy District, which serves Bent, Crowley, Otero, Prowers and Pueblo counties, sent a letter to the federal Bureau of Reclamation asking the agency to stop the $1 billion pipeline project.

Stormwater has become a hot-buttom issue since the elimination of Colorado Springs’ Stormwater Enterprise.

“We are asking Reclamation to revoke the contract immediately until Colorado Springs provides evidence that institutional mechanisms, rather than empty political promises, will be used to implement stormwater improvements and maintenance,” the letter states.

At Tuesday’s stormwater meeting, Julie Ann Woods, director of Pueblo County’s Department of Planning and Development, asked whether the task force had a timeline to put its plans into action.

“As you know, down in Pueblo, we feel the effects,” she said. “We’re encouraged to see this, but we want to know that there is essentially a time when you go into the actions that come out of the task force.”

That’s when Williams, who has been the City Council’s point person on stormwater issues, said the task force hoped to gather its list of information before the end of 2012.

Even before Woods raised the timing question, Helen Migchelbrink, Colorado Springs’ public works director and city engineer, said a solution would not be immediate.

“The key is we’ve got to work together. Any one of us cannot tackle this problem alone,” she said.

“As we move forward, I ask everyone to be patient with the process,” she added. “We have to plan thoughtfully, and we have to plan regionally.”

—Contact Daniel Chacón: 476-1623Twitter @danieljchaconFacebook Daniel Chacon

Spc. Dallas Casey gets a chance to try some sit skiing with the help of the city of Colorado Springs at Prospect Lake. Through a therapeutic program with the city of Colorado Springs, Ft. Carson soldiers who have been injured were getting the chance to ski on Wednesday, August 15, 2012.(The Gazette/Jerilee Bennett) Photo by JERILEE BENNETT, THE GAZETTE