Pueblo Sewage Spill Taints the Arkansas River: What It Means for Homes in Rocky Ford, La Junta & the Lower Arkansas Valley

On Wednesday, August 26, a City of Pueblo wastewater treatment plant began releasing untreated sewage into the Arkansas River. The spill wasn't discovered until the next day, and by the time it was found and stopped, roughly 4.25 million gallons of raw sewage had gone into the river, according to reporting from The Colorado Sun and KRDO. State health officials have since confirmed elevated E. coli levels downstream, and a water contact advisory now stretches from where Fountain Creek meets the Arkansas River in Pueblo all the way down through Blende, Avondale, Fowler, Manzanola, Rocky Ford, La Junta, and Las Animas — reaching John Martin Reservoir State Park by Monday, August 31.

If you live, farm, or run a business anywhere along that stretch of the Arkansas, this is worth paying attention to. We've spent years doing water damage and sewage cleanup work in the Lower Arkansas Valley — Rocky Ford, La Junta, Manzanola, Fowler, Las Animas — and this kind of large-scale contamination event raises real questions for homeowners near the river, not just recreators.

What We Actually Know (and What We Don't)

Here's what's been confirmed by Colorado Parks and Wildlife and state health officials as of this week:

• The spill originated at a City of Pueblo wastewater treatment plant and released an estimated 4.25 million gallons of untreated sewage into the Arkansas River starting August 26.
• The advisory covers the Arkansas River from the Fountain Creek confluence in Pueblo downstream through Blende, Avondale, Fowler, Manzanola, Rocky Ford, La Junta, and Las Animas, and now into John Martin Reservoir.
• Testing has shown high E. coli levels in the affected stretch.
• The advisory is a "don't touch the water" warning for people and animals — not a statement about groundwater or private wells, which have not been separately tested as far as we've seen reported.

We're not going to speculate beyond that. If you're on a private well or use the river for irrigation, garden watering, or livestock, the responsible move is to check for updates directly from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) or Pueblo County Public Health before assuming your water source is unaffected — or assuming it's contaminated. Don't rely on secondhand claims about what the advisory does or doesn't cover for your specific property; call your county health department and ask directly.

Why This Matters Beyond "Don't Swim in the River"

A spill this size doesn't stay contained to recreation. A few practical things we'd flag if you're a homeowner or property owner near the affected stretch:

Livestock and pets. If animals have access to the river or irrigation ditches pulling from it, keep them fenced off until the advisory lifts. E. coli exposure in animals can cause the same GI illness it causes in people.

Irrigation water on food crops. If you use river water for a home garden, hold off until the advisory clears. This is exactly the kind of contamination event where "it'll probably be fine" isn't worth the risk to your family's food.

Basements and crawl spaces near the river or irrigation canals. If your property floods from a ditch, canal, or the river itself during this advisory period — even a minor seep into a crawl space — treat that water as contaminated black water, not as ordinary storm water. That distinction matters more than most people realize.

Sewage-Contaminated Water Is a Different Job Than a Regular Flood

This is the point we really want Lower Arkansas Valley homeowners to understand: water contaminated with raw sewage is handled completely differently than clean water damage. The IICRC (the industry's certifying body) classifies contaminated water as "Category 3" — it can carry bacteria, viruses, and parasites, and it requires different PPE, different disposal procedures, and often the removal of porous materials like drywall and carpet padding that can't be fully disinfected once they've absorbed sewage-contaminated water.

If any part of your home — a crawl space, a basement, a detached shop near an irrigation ditch — has taken on water that may be connected to this spill, don't treat it like a normal wet-vac-and-dry job. Call a restoration company that handles Category 3 water and biohazard cleanup properly. We've written a fuller breakdown of the difference between a normal sewage backup and how it should be handled at What to Do When Sewage Backs Up Into Your Basement.

We're Already in These Communities

Stars and Bars is based in Colorado City, but we regularly work water damage and sewage cleanup jobs across the Lower Arkansas Valley. We've done dedicated work and written local guides for several of the towns in this advisory zone:

• Water Damage Restoration in Rocky Ford, CO
• Storm & Flood Damage in La Junta and Otero County
• Water Damage Restoration in Manzanola, Otero County
• Storm & Flood Damage in Fowler, Crowley County
• Water Damage Restoration in Las Animas, Bent County

If you've got questions about how this advisory might interact with a property near the river, or if you've had actual water intrusion you're worried might be contaminated, give us a call at (719) 676-2456. We're IICRC certified, veteran-owned, and we'd rather walk you through what to check for free than have you guess wrong on something involving sewage exposure.

What to Do If You Suspect Contaminated Water Got Into Your Home

1. Don't touch it with bare skin. Wear rubber gloves and boots if you have to be near it at all.
2. Keep kids and pets away from any standing water connected to the river, canals, or ditches in the advisory zone.
3. Don't run a shop vac or household equipment through it the way you would for a clean-water flood — that can aerosolize contaminants.
4. Photograph the damage for insurance purposes before anything is touched or removed, if it's safe to do so from a distance.
5. Call a Category 3 water restoration crew — us or another IICRC-certified company — rather than attempting DIY cleanup on anything that may involve sewage-contaminated water.
6. Check with your county health department for the current advisory boundaries and any updates on when it's expected to lift.

We'll keep an eye on how this develops. If the advisory area changes or CDPHE releases more specific guidance for well owners or property owners, we'll update our local guides accordingly. In the meantime, if you're dealing with actual water intrusion anywhere from Pueblo down through Las Animas and you're not sure whether it's connected to this spill, the safest assumption is to treat it as contaminated until you know otherwise — and call us at (719) 676-2456 for a same-day assessment.