Sewage spill in Lower Arkansas Valley part of Year of Survival
Sep 11, 2026
In what is one of the driest, hottest summers on record, irrigated farms in Colorado’s Lower Arkansas Valley are facing significant effects from a raw sewage spill that originated in Pueblo. Pueblo Wastewater staff, Colorado Department of Agriculture Water Policy Advisor Robert Sakata, and irrigators in the Lower Arkansas Valley attended last week’s Arkansas Basin Roundtable meeting for updates.
The 4.25 million gallons of raw sewage entered the Arkansas River, and the spill was in its second day before it was discovered. The majority of crops in the area downstream are either forage crops or, of greater concern in terms of food safety, produce growers, though many growers are relying on ground water this year in the absence of dependable river water. Typically, according to Jack Goble, general manager of the Lower Arkansas Valley Water Conservancy District, dilution is the solution but with little water flow, some irrigators are high and dry.
“Unfortunately, we don’t have the higher flows to dilute a spill like this, but it’s definitely had an impact,” he said. “Initially, the ditch companies didn’t get word of the spill until it was already at their headgate and in a couple of cases, they were already diverting the water before they found out.”
He said the delay in notification is concerning to irrigators and other water users and one item discussed at the roundtable meeting, was an improvement in notifications. Currently, there is a 24-hour notification window to report spills of this nature to the Colorado Department of Public Health and environment (CDPHE).
“24 hours is a lot of travel time in the river,” Goble said.
CROPS DESTROYED
At the roundtable meeting, Sakata said one small pepper field received the contaminated water and CDA and the landowner are cooperating to destroy the crop. Goble said questions remain, including who is financially responsible for destroyed crops.
He said Colorado State University is sending a group of experts in water quality and agriculture to offer direction to affected field crop producers. CDPHE water testing for bacteria continues in the Arkansas Valley. It’s notable that Rocky Ford cantaloupe and Pueblo chiles were not affected and remain safe.
“The theme of this irrigation season is just to survive,” he said. “It’s record low water supply, and in some cases record high input costs — fuel is high, fertilizer’s high, seed is high, all the input costs are high. Fortunately, the hay market has gone up, but unfortunately, we don’t have enough water to grow a whole lot of alfalfa or other hay products so it’s kind of a perfect storm of unfortunate events this season.”
On top of that, he said downstream irrigators also dealt with water runoff from the Aspen Acres Fire burn scar, though it was much less concerning that the sewage spill.
“What I hear from producers is they are just trying to survive to fight again next year in what will hopefully be a better snowpack year,” he said. “If we have another year like this one, or even close, it’s going to be devastating not only to agriculture but to other water users also."
