Canal concerns; chemical smells and strange colors

Some upper valley residents have been expressing concerns about strange smells and colors in the canals near their homes.

“About a week and a half ago, two weeks ago, we had the previous irrigation,” said Barbara Teran, pointing to the irrigation ditch that runs next to her house. “This one is the new one for today, Sunday. The first thing you notice is the horrific smell of a chemical. And the chemical smell that I noticed was one of – that you might smell with a vector truck going around, or insect spray is probably more appropriate.”

“The color, it’s a blue-ish green color, and the smell, it kind of gives you a smell of some type of chemical,” said Jesus Reyes, general manager with the El Paso County Water Improvement District.

Reyes said he and others at the district are aware of the issue, stating it’s an algae bloom caused by the lack of rain recently.

“But believe me, we deliver water to the city of El Paso water treatment plants, and we’ve had the water tested,” Reyes said. “We’re on top of it, there’s been no chemical spills. I want to assure the public there’s been no contamination of any kind at all in the irrigation water.”

But the concern is more than just a smell.

“I was brought two birds, probably about five days apart,” said Josie Karam, a local wildlife rehabilitation specialist. “They were found in the canal. Mostly in the remnants of the canal, once the water was gone. They found them in the shallow water.”

Karam says the impact of something in the canal is clear.

“They were both fledglings,” Karam said. “They could fly, or they were at the age where they could fly. They were both covered in a very oily substance, and a very chemical smell substance. I had to put them both down because they were blind from whatever they got into. And they were aspirating. And they were already so saturated, they had already absorbed whatever chemical was in the canals.”

Reyes said there are possibilities of dumping, but they’re always looking for impacts.

“We do have problems of people disposing of things,” Reyes said. “Maybe these animals got into some bad feed, or some bad food or something. But no, I can assure you there’s no alarms in the irrigation water.”

If you know about or see anyone dumping into the area’s canals, you’re asked to call the water improvement district at 915-872-4000 as well as police or sheriffs deputies.