Fountain Creek Watershed District

The Fountain Creek Watershed is located along the central front range of Colorado. It is a 927-square mile watershed that drains south into the Arkansas River at Pueblo. The watershed is bordered by the Palmer Divide to the north, Pikes Peak to the west, and a minor divide 20 miles east of Colorado Springs.

The area is characterized by extremes in temperature and precipitation, large elevation changes, steep gradients, diverse ecosystems, and a multitude of water uses. Portions of El Paso, Teller, and Pueblo counties make up the watershed, which encompasses the eight municipalities of Pueblo, Colorado Springs, Fountain, Manitou Springs, Green Mountain Falls, Woodland Park Palmer Lake, and Monument.

A watershed is a region that drains into a river, river system, or other body of water. John Wesley Powell, the 19th century geologist and explorer, described a watershed as: “that area of land, a bounded hydrologic system, within which all living things are inextricably linked by their common water course and where, as humans settled, simple logic demanded that they become part of a community.”