After sewage spilled into the Animas River last weekend, Durango residents had a lot of questions, from why repair crews failed to notify the Public Works director immediately to why it took three days to warn the public about a health hazard.

City manager Ron LeBlanc offered a brutally honest and painful answer.

“Our system failed; our communications failed,” LeBlanc said. “The city has no written emergency-response plan for a sewage spill. I was disappointed to find that out as a result of this spill. ... Sometimes we don’t do a good job in an emergency response. This was one of those times. It’s my job as a city manager to see that we do a good job in the future.”

LeBlanc said the city is putting together an “after-action review” that will examine the response to the spill, pinpoint problems and find better ways to handle future crises.

Duragoans who cherish the river that shapes the city might be surprised to learn no federal regulations mandate when the public must be notified that sewage contamination in a river has become a health hazard. States devise their own regulations. Colorado requires cities to notify the state Department of Public Health and Environment immediately when there is a sewage spill in a river. Durango did not notify the state health department until more than two days after the spill.

On July 15, a kayaker spotted raw sewage pouring from a sewer structure on the west bank of the Animas River, and a Public Works crew went to the location just north of the skate park. Unable to repair the leak, the crew left without notifying Public Works Director Jack Rogers.

Sewage continued to leak into the river Saturday. Rogers said he first learned of the leak when The Durango Herald contacted him July 17 for information about the spill. Rogers was on the scene at 4 a.m. the next day, Monday, with an excavator, trucks pumping sewage into tanks and work crews.

According to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment report, the state agency was notified at 10:15 a.m. Monday. Repairs stopped the sewage flow Monday afternoon.

The city manager’s office waited for the San Juan Basin Health Department to decide whether Durango should post warnings along the river’s edge about water contamination. Warning signs went up Tuesday cautioning people to avoid contact with the water “by order of the San Juan Basin Health Department.”

The city’s belief that it had no authority to post the signs without an order puzzled San Juan Basin engineer Greg Brand. He took water samples around the spill site and tested them for contamination.

“I don’t know if there are any state regulations about spill signage, but it seems like common sense that if a city’s sewage pipe is spewing into a river, it’s OK to put up a sign letting the public know,” Brand said.

Steve Gunderson is director of the water quality control division for Colorado’s public health department. He said Denver frequently takes the initiative and posts signs alerting the public to solid-waste contamination.

“It’s not always a sewer spill; sometimes it’s fecal matter from animals living in the city, transient homeless communities,” Gunderson said, adding that another city often posts warnings about excessive pigeon droppings in its river. “We don’t order the city to post alerts. Raw sewage is pretty nasty stuff. A city can use its own judgement.”

But LeBlanc said his staff did not have the medical or scientific expertise to know whether the water had become hazardous. He said he was trying to balance the need to inform the public accurately with the needs of Durango businesses that rely on recreational activities in the river.

American Rivers, a conservation organization based in Washington, D.C., proposed legislation that would create national standards that would help cities interpret data and know when sewage contamination poses a health risk. Civil engineer Gary Belan directs the Clean Water Program for American Rivers. He was visiting family in Pagosa Springs and rafting Colorado rivers when Durango’s sewage spilled.

“Sewage spilling into rivers is a very common problem; billions of gallons of raw sewage spill into U.S. rivers every year because infrastructure gets worn and degraded,” Belan said. “State laws about how and when to notify the public of a health hazard are often very vague or difficult to understand. It’s a big gap in America’s ability to protect the public’s health and safeguard clean water.”

Gunderson said Colorado does not require that cities have written response plans for sewage spills. But LeBlanc promises Durango will have a written plan in place for future spills. The city can refer to a tactical plan called the Incident Command System, which offers guidance about how to respond to emergencies, including wildfires and avalanches as well as water contamination. But LeBlanc concedes it was not effectively used during the spill.

Gunderson said the Colorado Water Quality Control Act requires officials to notify the state health department immediately when there is a chemical, oil, petroleum product or sewage discharge into Colorado waters (which include surface water, groundwater and dry gullies or storm sewers leading to surface water).

The agency was not notified by Durango until Monday.

Meanwhile, Rogers said he told his staff the next time sewage leaks into the river, they must notify him and Chris Butcher at Water Waste Management immediately.

“I talked to each one of my staffers, and I am sure they understood me,” Rogers said.

ledwards@durangoherald.com