Food crops damaged by oil spill in irrigation ditch near Pueblo

PUEBLO COUNTY — An oil spill in Pueblo County near Highway 50 has damaged a corn and alfalfa field. Vince Hanson has been a landowner in Pueblo County for nearly nine years. Hanson contacted News5 after seeing significant flooding and oil filling the drainage ditch outside his home.

“I've never seen oil like this. I've seen some contaminants come down, but nothing like this,” Hanson said.

On Friday, Hanson noticed an oil leak in the irrigation system running near his home.

“Oil almost went through my driveway last night. It was close,” Hanson said.

Hanson said he contacted several state agencies for help.

“The fire department came out and just said we'll take care of business and do whatever we can,” Hanson said.

Hanson said firefighters did a great job, but it took hours to clean up most of the oil.

“The firefighters piled up all these rags,” Hanson said.

He said firefighters used white sponges to absorb the oil.

“That's the watermark of the stain that he left. So it's gone down about two inches,” Hanson said.

By Sunday, most of the oil had disappeared, but remnants could still be seen in the plants and along the ditch.

“It’s just in the branches. It's still everywhere, I mean, it was disgusting. They released a lot. It was like stopping this way. It was a journey. They put out a lot, but boy, there’s still a lot left,” Hanson said.

Hanson showed us the drainage ditch and where the oil had accumulated.

“You can see it up there, it's like a blue sheen, it's disgusting,” Hanson said.

What looked like a ditch or small river separated Highway 50 from Hanson's home. Hanson said the drainage ditch was supposed to be three feet deep. But the flood filled the ditch and caused water to overflow into his neighbors' fields.

“As you can see, the water came back and blew his whole grade, and it's flowing back and right now it's going right back onto the field. That ditch actually goes back into its drainage,” Hanson said.

He showed us how overflowing water from the irrigation ditch seeped into the cornfield, damaging the crops.

“These people are losing their crops. It has a financial impact on the community. Those crops are sold. That food is grown and sold. That’s how they make their living and if they lose 10 acres of field because of contamination, that’s serious,” Hanson said.

He said that over the past four years, flooding has caused significant financial hardship for many farmers in the area.

“The floods caused me about $25,000 in damages last year alone,” Hanson said.

He said the drainage system was installed along Highway 50 a few years ago. He says it's causing flooding on his property, but he's not sure where the oil is coming from.

“I'm trying to find out the cause of the accident. if it was a vehicle that crashed into the ditch. “I heard three things: one, a tractor-trailer crashed into the ditch and lost its oil pan, one, a vehicle and another that someone dumped oil on it,” he said. Hanson said.

Hanson said all of his neighbors are environmentally conscious and he doesn't believe anyone would pour oil into a drainage ditch.

Hanson told News5 he plans to contact county commissioners to see what can be done about the flooding and oil spill.
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