The pair of historic floods that hit Pagosa Country in recent days have left officials dealing with a number of infrastructure issues, ranging from roads to sewer services.
Additional damage may come to light as the river recedes and additional assessments are completed.
Sewer services
A press release from the Pagosa Springs Police Department (PSPD) explains that, the morning of Oct. 14, “floodwaters and debris caused a failure in the sewer lines beneath the 1st Street Bridge on U.S. 160.”
The PSPD made the decision to close the bridge when it was noticed that the pipe was taking hits from debris coming down the flooded river.
The matter was discussed at a special meeting of the Pagosa Springs Town Council on Tuesday, Oct. 14.
Pagosa Springs Public Works Director Karl Johnson explained that “a tree had wedged itself on the topside of the sewer main,” which then started catching other debris until it “snapped” the line.
Town staff installed “a temporary bypass” of the sewer main on top the bridge, and was back in operation as of 11 a.m. Tuesday morning, Johnson said.
Pagosa Springs Town Manager David Harries noted Wednesday fast-tracking a solution for the pipe that is permanent will be one of the biggest challenges following the flooding.
At the Tuesday meeting, it was also noted the flooding caused a lot of inflow and infiltration of unwanted water into the town’s sewer system, causing the amount piped to the Pagosa Area Water and Sanitation District’s (PAWSD’s) wastewater treatment plant to nearly triple.
Johnson also indicated the flooding likely intensified some of the existing issues with the system. For more information, see related story.
Water repairs
PAWSD announced on Oct. 14 that there will be a water outage for customers on the south side of U.S. 160 and the west side of U.S. 84 just past Cole’s Meat Processing in order for repairs to be made.
The organization explained that distribution crews need to isolate the water line from the 1st Street bridge on U.S. 160 to the end of the line on the west side of U.S. 84 so the crews can work on the pressure-reducing valve to adjust pressure to a more stable operating range.
That work is anticipated to begin at 10 a.m. on Friday, Oct. 17, the water will be turned off.
Riverbank erosion
Harris also noted the riverbank is sloughing off in the area of the 1st Street bridge, with 10 feet of a corrugated pipe broken off, leading officials to believe about 10 feet of the bank sloughed off.
Roads
“There’s so many miles of county roads that need to be repaired one way or the other, whether it’s just potholes and washboard after all this or actual washouts,” Emergency Management Commander Roy Vega said, noting they’ll all need to be repaired.
